In the red: France's wine industry turns sour • FRANCE 24 English
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2024
- Wine lovers will be familiar with Bordeaux, Bourgogne and Beaujolais. These wines are all symbols of French culture, celebrated worldwide. Yet over the past 60 years, wine consumption has dropped by 70 percent in France. Reds, in particular, have been given the cold shoulder - even abroad. So why are consumers changing their habits? How can winemakers in south-western France survive? Some are even forced to tear up their vineyards and seek compensation from the French government and EU. Our team reports.
Read more about this story in our article: f24.my/9peV.y
🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE - Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: f24.my/YTliveEN
🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: www.france24.com/en/
Like us on Facebook: f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: f24.my/TGen
![New vineyards of the world: The incredible story of English Wine [Documentary]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EEUrG-edlok/mqdefault.jpg)
It’s plummeted because wine cost too much for a lot of people
The architects of their own downfall. In the 1970s London merchants used to import wine in bulk and bottle it in London. i distinctly remember being able to buy a bottle of St Emillion for 30 bob. In their wisdom the French put a stop to this and the price of French wine rocketed. By the early 80s other countries from Australia to Bulgaria started to export, By 1981 I was buying crates of very decent Bulgarian wine from Vinimpex for £2 a bottle.
Quality is lacking.
A factor ignored in Europe is that as it turns to Muslim immigration that the decline in alcohol consumption reflects almost exactly the rise of non-drinking Islamists. Sure there’s other factors such as subsidising lazy European farmers, but the demographics in Europe will ensure a gradual reduction in domestic alcohol consumption.
Same as pubs in the UK. They are closing by the thousand every year, as Muslim immigrants render them nugatory. Just one of the many benefits of "diversity" apparently.
This is very sad to see, I wish the French vineyards well, all the best from the U.K.
Prices have not changed in the supermarket but taste has changed. The last 20 years I only drink New World wines: stronger taste but not stronger in price.
All wines produced theses days taste unpleasantly sweet to me. Even the supposedly “dry” varieties. Ick.
Another issue is the growth of South American wines - not only in quantity, but also in quality.
Agree but don’t forget South African wine industry growth too…giving French wines a run for their money. Top tier quality at a lower price with South African wines
I don’t agree that South American wines are necessarily good quality. Many I find quite disagreeable
'Eric Etienne has been a winemaker in Bordeaux for four generations'😆😂. The reincarnating vintner.
Sadly there is a glut in much of the global wine industry, to many winemakers and not enough wine drinkers.
It's too expensive compared to beer
It’s a luxury product rather than something our species actually NEEDS for optimal nutrition.
True of many products, but I feel the wine market is over saturated, its also a harder market to sell to, beer and spirits tend to be easier to sell.@@1timbarrett
Good quality reds and whites are reasonably priced in Australia. We get good quality whites at reasonable prices from New Zealand as well. French wines are OK, but over priced here in Australia so you only buy them as a bit of fun.
The consumption of red wine isn't declining in Denmark. It was the same in 2022 as in 2017. The global market has not been reduced. External factors are not the problem. French red wine is simply too expensive. Back in the 1970s and 1980s we could afford St. Emilion and Côtes du Rhône regularly and Margaux and Châteauneuf-Du-Pape occationally. Now St. Emilion and Côtes du Rhône are too expensive even on occations. I can buy 3 liters of decent red wine from Spain, California, Chile or Australia for the cost of a 70 cl bottle of a similar French wine. The quality of wines from Spain, California, Chile and Australia has improved a lot in the past 50 years without any increase in price. French wines have just become more expensive.
I've recently noticed the price of French wines have been dropping in my UK supermarkets, but I've long ago developed a taste for new world wines.
California wines are not wines but hawaiian cocktail, too sweet to be called "wine"
Probably why I like New Zealand wines and South American. As far as taste, each to their own.
@@dou40006 does USA put an additive in? It all tastes like artificial vanilla to me yucky. I like South American, New Zealand, Australian and South African. Not so thin and watery vinegar as French to my palette.
The Bordeaux area has a problem because they’re too focused on red wine and relied too much on their reputation
Other regions are doing well and have increased the quality level
Due to climate change new wineyards are being created and new cépages are introduced promising new great wines in the future
People drink less wine but the average quality is far better than 50 years ago
Withe and rosé wines are very trendy and we can find in this category more excellent products than decades ago
People realize that beside champagne there are other traditional sparkling wines that are very interesting
I’m not worrying for the French wine industry in the long term : we have the know how, passionate professionals, strong wine schools
Some people in this sector must adapt to the new trends
C’est la vie !
completely agreed. Well said. Bordeaux is often poor value and French consumers have a lot of better value alternatives.
C'est pourquoi les producteurs français jettent le vin espagnol par terre et jettent des camions entiers parce que le gouvernement espagnol va imposer de graves sanctions économiques à la France pour ne pas avoir agi par la police ou menacer de conflits d'augmentation de l'électricité et de blocus de la Méditerranée pour son importation. et frontière fermée pour le transport des produits français
That's what I was thinking too! Wine like everything else is being commoditized in a race to the bottom.
IMO this really has nothing to do with new vineyards or new cepages. This has to do with missing the boat on new ideas. The Bordeaux vineyards are way too steeped in expensive chateaus that have zero interest in changing their styles or approaches. As these vineyards cost millions upon millions their influence will shut out any new ideas.
For example, alcohol free wine is a boat Bordeaux has completely missed. If you look in Canada, Germany or Switzerland alcohol free wine are part of the landscape. Alcohol free beer is a force to be reckoned with and not to be dismissed, so I am completely surprised that the French did not clue into that.
Australia and NZ are struggling too, perhaps NZ Savi Blanc is a bright spot in a sea of red, other than that is ugly out in the vineyard. I have a vineyard in NZ and I don't even pick, for three years now and no sign of improvement.
French habits about drinking wine haven't been changed, but demographics of France have been changed with increasing number of people who don't drink alcohol.
The French have destroyed their wine industry by selling low quality wine at overblown prices. Consumers can now, for example, buy wines from a country like South Africa, where the quality is simply superior and often at prices significantly lower than French wine.
A bit like their car manufacturing. Poor quality cars at inflated prices
And this my dear is the True Reason.
I find that low quality wine is sold at low prices in France and drunk as an every day table wine. The same bottle is over priced in the UK because of the tax applied by the UK government.
100% but no one is going to say that out loud here because South Africa is supposedly a “failing state”…lol SA has many issues which we are very well aware and vocal about but never ever count SA out. Do so at your own egg on face risk. We are just made different and the world (especially western media) keeps writing us off
@@thandisilec835Is there any hope of you solving your power crisis and the murder and car jacking crisis? Joburg is top 5 in the world for highest murder rate per Capita. What plans are being put in place to reduce crime to more acceptable levels
If less people buy it, it's kinda logical. If you provide a product and fewer people want your products, think about how you can change yourself
So why aren’t the prices dropping??
for juice you pay only 1£ or less the rest are taxes
I can believe that!
Because theyre tearing up their fields to keep prices high.
The cynic in me thinks there must be some sort of perverse tax incentive at play there but 🤷♂️
It was said in the video that the production cost is already above the sale cost. Could be due to cost of labor, glass, transportation or many other factors. So it is not viable to sell for even less and lose even more.
While the change is sad, why should they be compensated by the government or EU?...just because the market changed? bad precedent.
In Russia it's the other way around. In recent years, wine consumption has been growing, while the consumption of strong alcohol has been falling. Of course, this is largely due to the rapid development of the Kuban region, where many wineries have appeared and make very good wine. I really love the classic blend of Saint Emilion, sometimes I allow myself to buy it for some festive occasion. French, don’t let the vineyards of Bordeaux perish!))
These wines have gotten too expensive and the quality is not the same.
Value when compared to other countries but dont knock the quality with nothing to back up your claim.
@@proprietarycurez8463 compare a Pichon Lalande made recently with those made 1990s. I honestly think they are not as good.
Have you seen the price of red wine from Bordeaux and Borgogne these days? If it's not supermarket unclassified quality it's likely unaffordable.
That's just not true, great and even amazing Bordeaux exists at 15-20 euros. Affordable Bourgogne is more difficult to find, but not at all impossible.
I would say a pretty decent Bordeaux starts at 10€ (in Belgium, less in France).
Either way theyre screwed. Prices are too high too sell or they're soo low they lose money.
Keep staying strong. I know it is easier said than done. Wine is part of life, just like music and the arts.
Especially Bordeaux is one of the most conservative wine regions in France. They're like the german Automobile industry: Thinking you're the gold standard of the whole industry, you sleep on while the world is changing.
This.
In Asia, nobody buys German cars
@@johndorilag4129 I live in Japan and German cars are very popular here.
Theres is so much great wine being made now, from orange wine in georgia, to incredible baga wines in portugal. They dont carry the insane prices of good french wines
I live in-between two wine regions in Germany so my wine choice is getting more and more local. Also my taste turns more and towards white wine. French wine, well what shall I say.
A couple of years ago we met with colleagues from all over Europe (Germany, France, Ireland and once in a while from the US) once a year in different regions in Europe. And we always picked a wine region and did wine tasting. The first was in the Alsace. The wine maker let us taste every bottle he had on stock we had a nice evening and we bought a lot of wine (not bottles but boxes.
The next year we went to the French Jura. Also at that wine maker we bought quite an amount there as well. in the Jura we already had to pay for the tasting. Also we had to pay for the tasting. I like the Jura wines but they are very hard to get where I live and if a sore has them the prices are at the upper end.
The following year we met in Germany. No need to pay for the tasting, also we could taste every wine in stock and also here we bought a lot.
The year after we went to Burgundy and what a disappointment. Also here we had to pay for the tasting. I had the feeling that the vineyard did a favor to us letting us taste their wine. We could taste 3 wines, two where excellent but sold out. The third wine was just so so but we where told that this one will be a good as the first two - in 15 years. Even my French colleagues did not buy anything and also felt quite embarrassed by the attitude there.
In general I don't mind paying for a tasting but then it needs to be in a relationship to what I can taste. The experience in Burgundy might have been a single affair and not the norm but is still sticks in my mind.
I have been to Bordeaux once during the wine festival in may before the pandemic. Everyone was so friendly. Great food was very reasonable. They speaks English! I hope their business survive
Also bordeaux wines are incredibly expensive and, apart from the top ones, not very good value for money. French ocnsumers know that and supermerket shelves are full of better value alternatives
One can only blame the french...they make less palatable/over priced/substantially mediocre wine compared to the rest of the world
Aswer: way too expensive when other wine yards are increasing quality at a very competitive price.
One of the problems is that the new immigrants to France and EU don’t drink wine.
Make them drink wine, and problem is solved!
Too funny.😂
@@1timbarrett To test the loyalty of me immigrants to France, make them drink wine. If they refuse, send them back.
Sadly, I had to give up wine as many left me with headaches and a flushed face. It wasn't the alcohol as hard liquor doesn't do this. Sulphites? Sorbates? Silicone oils? I just don't know. There are many, many 'process aids' in winemaking that simply don't belong in a food product.
Having said that, my wife and I switched to quality craft beers. We're very light drinkers, often sharing a 0.5 L bottle. But still, many cause a similar reaction to that I had with wine. It turns out that beermaking has its own dirty secrets: 'process aids' that can cause a variety of problems for some people. I've learned to have just one drink and nurse it for an hour or so.
"Global red wine consumption has plummeted by 20% -- as a result prices have tumbled." Maybe this is a half truth at best.
The prices the farmers get.
Ya thats what I figured. With all the cry and hew about "sustainable farming," farmers know what their doing. It seems the middle man (person/they) might be more efficient as well.@@proprietarycurez8463
Very interesting. Although the Bordeaux region has been producing wine for close to 2,000 years, its style has been vastly different over time, from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Times, climate, and tastes all change.
France has rested on it's laurels for too long,it no longer is competetive with new world wines,it has become 2nd rate
Here in the UK most of the French wines I try in the supermarket under £10 are not good, but the new world wines are much better by comparison, I never even look at the French wines anymore and just rule them out.
Make better wine. Solved.
French wine has a pricing problem the world 8s catching up offering great wine at less cost Sulfite health issues are not too serious frankly.
Bordeaux produces some of the most consequential wines in the world. However if you're not a rich owner of a one of the top 100 or so chateau it's gotten difficult. One of the problems for a wino like me in California is I'm not going to buy some no name Bordeaux from one of the satellite appellations without trying it first. This gives rise to the chicken and egg problem that small producers looking to new markets have. Getting foreigners interested in your wines takes a lot of work and costs a lot of money.
Don't tell anyone in southern England. They were planting vine's everywhere, if they still are
Climate change is helping English vineyards and badly affecting Southern European ones. The rest of the world blends wine, France has laws against it.
Never been much of a wine drinker myself, why don't they start growing tomatoes, or something edible?
They could even grow other varietals.
Grapes grow in places where traditional vegetables won’t, or are too difficult to harvest due to the terrain
Well, why don't they grow more nuts, like walnuts, almonds etc instead of leaving California to grow them.
Here’s a thought: grow grass for herbivores to eat…!😮
@@HighWealdergrowing almonds requires high use of water, fertilizers and pesticides. Not good for the environment and the nuts with high pesticide residues are not healthy for humans consuming them. So this venture would not last long in EU where there is low tolerance for wasteful agricultural practices and toxins in food.
Prices in the market have not gone down, on the contrary prices have increased. Producers get less; it is businesses that are between producers and consumers that make money.
Supply and demand. They want to be a luxury product at high prices, but the rest of the red wine world caught up to them in quality. Reduce prices.
The EU 'wine lake' has been a byword as long as I can remember, alongside the butter mountain.
The farmers blame everything but themselfs, like the french always do. The last two farmers got it. As everyone who makes a product you’ve to go with the times. Tastes change. You can still make your signature wines on the side. The Italians got it.
no blame just a story
Who says the grape growers aren't innovative?
Judging from the video, they were very proactive when getting rid of grape pickers in favor of machinery. Now others are exercising their free choices as well
They could grow other grapes or hops or make vodka. If they haven't changed its because they dont want to.
It's strange, because I can't get a competitively priced fine Bordeaux to save my life. In fact, even if I would be willing to pay, let's say 35% more for a Bordeaux vs an equal non French wine, I still wouldn't be able to get it because they're always sold out. They must be referring to a completely different segment. The mass market.
I'm guessing that France can make a lot more great wine, and that with the downscaling more excellence will start coming up. Because that's where the much smaller, but also potentially more profitable market is now. As far as I know, the great chateau's aren't exactly strapped for cash. They will reinvent themselves, but the French aren't know for being quick to change.
World-wide sales of red wine has been trending up. There's still a growing market, just not in France.
Where did u read that?
Theyre probably including rose in those figures. Rose is the best wine you can get.
You're right. The red wine market is expanding well worldwide at about 5 % per year. The French have got their own specific problem to sort out.
I only drink red wine. But I don't drink Bordeaux. My father is a big fan - but to me the taste is not attractive. Many of them taste very similar. I'm firmly more into Italian an Spanish wines where to me there is a bit more character.
Personal preference only of course.
oh yeah? french red is so expensive here in the philippines that we have to choose those from other countries.
I’ve recently been switching off of Burgundy to Rioja, as in my area the very cheapest bottle of simple (mediocre) Bourgogne Rouge might be $25 (if you can find one), and a delicious bottle of Cune Rioja Crianza is twelve bucks. If I could afford Volnay, I’d drink it, but I simply can’t.
The New World wine regions have been around for over a century and are ever expanding. Drinking tastes are always changing - craft beers and gins are currently quite popular. If the Old World doesn’t change then they will be left behind. I found it amusing that the story ends with a young winemaker “discovering” selling via the cellar door. The two wine regions near where I live in Australia are dotted with cellar doors. Many are starting to offer accommodation as well. Apart from “champagne” I doubt many Australians bother to drink French wine at the price premium demanded vs what we get here and from New Zealand.
Hope for a profitable solution for the hard working men and women of the wine industry.
I've toured every region of France, sampled many vinyards, more than once in my 72 years. I also went to S.A. yes their wines are as good and much cheaper. The french soil is depleted and the climate has changed. An English wine beat them at the world championship wine tasting. Fresh ground Raised temperatures back to Roman Times.
Sounds like free market economics working exactly as they're supposed to. Too much supply + less demand = prices go down. Those who can't cut down their costs or absorb their losses go bust.
04:39 Why are France and the EU gifting our hard earned tax dollars to wineries that aren't viable? These people are grown ups who took on risks, continued running (or even expanding) a business that has a bleak future. They should take responsibility, not abuse of the taxpayers' solidarity.
01:32 The argument about heritage and how these wineries have been around for multiple generations isn't convincing consumers. Something being old doesn't automatically make it better and worth paying a premium for. In an old country like France, everything has a long history. There's corner boulangeries that have been running for generations. Doesn't mean that we're willing to pay more for their baguettes just coz they've been around for long.
Had a big market in the UK but……. Australia , SA , NZ , USA , etc etc are having a good chuckle . Tariffs and inefficient production , not a good business model is it !
Plenty of reasonably priced, well drained land in the South of Scotland. Get in early on the nascent Scottish wine industry. Things are getting warmer!
Wine was once considered a civilizing force.
Yeah well it got commoditized by cheaper labor.
In Texas, the better French wines will be expensive not only because of duties but also because of the multi-tier distribution system. We are seeing less of the major French labels and higher costs on the better French stuff. We are 9 percent of the US population but we have a larger economy than Russia (pre war). There's still a lot of demand for wine. I'm seeing less of the traditional high quality French bottles and a wider range of non-French wines and smaller French producers. I don't see how the market is going to shift back. Bordeaux is not going to win the hearts of younger consumers especially at high prices. I also don't see how consumers are going to prefer wines that require a decade of aging when they can get wines that are accessible sooner and also cost less.
A 750 ml bottle of wine equals three 8 oz cups of wine for ten dollars! A case of American domestic lager beer is 36 cups for 20 dollars. 55 cents a glass versus three dollars a glass for wine, that's six times the price of beer. Wine also starts to go bad in a very short time, beer lasts much longer. My father used to say champagne taste on a beer budget! I say an attitude is easy to have if you can afford to have it.
Should have used anti-freeze with the blend.
Stopped buying from France or europe .Tax is killing your market over here in the uk the brits love a good red.
Too bad UK doesnt have proper French weather.
As an American who likes red wine, Trump’s tariffs had no effect on me because I primarily buy wine from the United States. But I drink less than I used to anyway. Sadly, any amount of alcohol intake is harmful. There’s no getting around that.
I have been running experimental vineyard in Poland for up to 20yrs and have been testing over 70 different species resistant to diseases .It is incredible how good vine you can make from Siberian variety resistant to -33C and vine you pick in the coldest region in the mid of August .I came to conclusion that I'm not able to buy good wine in supermarket especially when has called big names like Chardonnay ,Pinot Sauvignon .I'm avoiding then because you can't make a good vine from these varieties .In terms of foxy aroma which is unacceptable for French to drink American vines I can claim that they have a lot of flavour and these vines with multiple crossing in laboratories are higher in quality that standard ones like Pinot .There is also a global warming so probably you will observe booming new varietes in colder climate like Poland or the UK..When i came to majestic wine shop chain in the Uk after covid store closure they stored expensive wine in hot temperature.It can't be good.
You are exaggerating. Nothing survives -33C and that growing season is not enough time to develop the sugars. You probably use lots of sugar for the alcohol and get the foxy flavor from the grape and thats not what most people consider good wine however good it is. I'm sure you do make good wine though.
@@proprietarycurez8463 My inspiration has derived from Elmer Swenson ,my favorite variety is Louise Swenson resintant up to -40 it has like -rose apple flavour .Adalmina (in Fnnish language means the queen) which has a great texture higher than Sauvignon Blanc due to high pectin content with sweet -grassy lychee flavour .I think that foxy american flavour is now a myth which was unacceptable for French has gone .These multiple crossing varieties are good and the unacceptable flavor is hard to detect sometimes when is too hot summer...The wild variety has also more acids.However recent winters are here not -30C but -10C .
I am an agronomist from Costa Rica and the story here is since the last century…looking for the holy grail of “UVA Tropical” A variety of grapes that is adapted to the tropics. Many trials have been done here ….and in some colder climate areas had results.
French wine is refined, but it is also predictable. Australian Syrah/Grenache is usually a wild experience compared to a Rhone. But if I ever have the means, i’d go for CNDP
C'est pourquoi les producteurs français jettent le vin espagnol par terre et jettent des camions entiers parce que le gouvernement espagnol va imposer de graves sanctions économiques à la France pour ne pas avoir agi par la police ou menacer de conflits d'augmentation de l'électricité et de blocus de la Méditerranée pour son importation. et frontière fermée pour le transport des produits français
I gladly welcome the prices of Bordeaux growth wines remaining stabilized.
Having one son is a problem. What’s the chance that one kid wants to be a farmer too? And not go to the city? Need to raise your odds and have 3 kids.
I’m a big drinker of non-alcoholic red wine (ok, called “wine based drink” for some dumb legal reason) and buy bottles of this every weekend at the supermarket. Note, it’s product of Germany, or Spain and I’ve never seen a French non-alcoholic red wine for sale in the UK. It’s a shame as I’m a huge fan of fine red wines from Bordeaux.
You took six minutes to get to the point. This could be edited down to four minutes.
Young people are also drinking less wine in general in France and elsewhere….more craft beer brewing and the popularity of the cocktail culture….
Classic European Union subsidies for French farmers so they don’t have to be competitive in the world market.
I’ve always dreamed of buying vines locally, after this, not a chance.
Its just one market, bruh.
Australia reds are doing well. What's wrong with French reds?
You might be a sociopath.
A bottle of plonk from anywhere on the supermarket shelf has a screw top, except a bottle of French plonk that still insist on a cork. (Mistake !)
At the modest end of the market most of the cost is tax from the UK government.
Bordeaux wines are boring tbh
Its all the tannins and you can have rose with anything. Brandy and vodka are good too!
My goodness, I like red wines.
rose
I’m trying to do my part 😂
Cheers!
lol
They should consider outside investors who know nothing about wine but want to own a vineyard - in this case, class B shares with limited ownership but defined privileges for investors.
Might be an idea to start growing olive trees ? Don't know if the climate and soil are suitable. Must be well drained and sunny. There are olive "trees" that survive zone 8. Most of France is zone 6.
In Canada, the government has taxed alcohol to the point where French wine is too expensive. The bottle of wine we pay $20 for would be considered undrinkable swill to most Europeans. Our government has made French wine too expensive to drink considering the world is sending us good wine at a fair price.
As a Canadian I can relate. I spent some time working in the Dominican Republic and would buy French wine in the big supermarkets. Their culture desires Spanish type wines and no one buys French wines and so I was buying appellation controlle wines for 200 pesos, which at that time equaled $5 cad. These would be 30 or 40 cad at home
Not mentioned is Frances habit of exporting poor wine at high prices. I have drank really terrible French Wine, bought from discount wine merchants, God knows they must be buying in bulk very cheaply and we see poor wine on sale at 10 to 20 euros a bottle … we soon learn and refuse to buy. France has been greedy for decades.
We used to have good wine here in Arizona. One season the wine tasted horrible and has tasted bad ever since. I never found out why that was but we now buy South American wine because it doesn't make us sick.
It's odd but I found USA wine tastes of artificial vanilla flavour. I also stopped buying it a few years ago. I don't know what it is but horrid to my tastebuds!
Prices.
trends change. $ to value. Sometimes the money for a bordeaux does not bring enough value
Have a glass of tart leather with your steak boy.
As somebody who lives in Medoc the main wine regions have missed major trends. For example where is the alcohol free variants? I can get plenty of alcohol free variants in Germany and Switzerland, but it is pathetic in France. Serves them right!
French reds are way behind world's top competitors in terms of quality-price ratio. Today when you say red wine you mean wines form Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina or Chile.
When I buy wine, I make sure it's labeled as organic. Discounters like Aldi and Lidl stock organic wines at low prices, so it can be done. Having witnessed first hand the use of pesticides in wine growing areas, it doesn't take a genius to work out that is not good. The air is thick with chemicals, and ingesting them in any significant concentration is hardly going to be beneficial to your health in the long term. Wine growers need to prioritize sustainable and organic methods of growing their crops. Some need to rethink their business and working practices. They might need to charge more, but so be it. Safe products are ultimately what the next generation of wine buyers is increasingly looking for.
Yes, French wine producing regions are those where the most heavy-handed use of pesticides occurs. I chose organic and small producers wine, there are still many great wines made in France - and I feel there is a new generation of winemakers who are very conscientious about the environment. Santé!! ^^
In Calfornia, many wines are organic but not marketed is as such because it was a negative connotation here.
There was a television programme in Britain about 15 years ago or so showing how French farmers were using the output of sewage works as a fertiliser at minimal cost. The problem is the quantity of fragmented plastic and paper that is transferred into the land. Not much organic there.
And we need wine because…? 🤔
@@1timbarrett Oh that’s very easy - absence makes the heart grow fonder and wine can assist the absence!!!
I am very sorry for the struggling winemakers, but the old guard seem to be hopelessly behind and completely in denial, of course the problem is in part internal: These days better quality wines can be found for less money elsewhere, that is the simple heart of the problem. To have a quality in Bordeaux that I would like to drink I would have to pay at least 30-40 euros a bottle. I can source that quality elsewhere for a much more reasonable price.
This was definitely eye opening. When I lived in a warm climate I always loved a glass of red wine. Now that I live in a warm climate I choose whites or champagne as it’s more refreshing and not heavy on the palate. This is such sad news with these families history being lost and income no longer sustainable.
me as well.
Bordeaux and Bourgogne are way overpriced everywhere out of their region. I am not willing to put that money in a bottle of wine more than 4-5 times a year. For the other occasions, I take a good wine from somewhere else but much cheaper.
I don´t know how other areas in france manage to get affordable prices and these 2 regions do not, that is what is killing them.
Here in the U.S. the wines from California, Oregon and Washington state are every bit as good, or better, than wines from France.
Have you ever had a Grand Cru Burgundy or First Growth Bordeaux? I guess it is a matter of taste, but in my mind nothing compares, and I’ve traveled to Napa and Sonoma looking for that elusive bottle that compares to France’s best, and California came up woefully short.
100% correct
That is absolutely correct. On top of this they are usually $5 cheaper than a French bottle. It’s a no brainer
I made Sauvignon Blanc wine of abandoned vineyards in Ramat Motza, Israel in 1980. Even then I knew the difference between a great wine and a mediocre vine like the French and Israelis make. Most French vines are mediocre in quality. It is the whole French wine making industry that didn't reinvent itself but stuck to old habits and rhetoric. I now live in the Netherlands. Dutch wines are now surpassing those of France, These sell, because they are 'our own'. There is nothing interesting about French wine. Even Champagne lost its lustre. If winemakers don't reinvent themselves, the French hills will be barren and return to nature. The French chateaux will be abandoned or sold to rich people as a second home. French young people are not stupid, of course they don't want to work hard to loose money. I have a hostel. Most of my wine drinking guests want white wine. Dry. But wine drinkers are getting fewer and fewer. I hope to make my own wine, but not from French grapevines because they are not suitable for growing in the Netherlands. I tried them. The Netherlands has to stop with growing so much lifestock. France has to uproot its vineyards. Every country must change its ways. France, stop being so proudly stubborn. Change or become the beggar of Europe.
What does this mean for the future of all agricultural products?
And the people who buy them? 😂
Nice scenery but flawed facts. Wine consumption is relatively steady globally, both red and white, according to other data sources. Good journalists will closely check the data they are given!
What?! I have never bought more wine than last and this year. Yesterday received 42 bottles from France. Cheers!
Shouldve bought bordeaux.
@@proprietarycurez8463 If you asked me if I bought wines from Bordeaux, then yes - 19 of 42 were from Bordeaux.
The business model has been flawed for years. It worked for a while but it was bound to break. Branding is important. The Chinese cheaters are nipping at your heals,
Old EU trick. Destroy to keep prices high rather then selling at market prices! You can't compete then finished!
Sad…
The future is the small producers. Sustainable projects that dont need to many machinery or economic inputs and low intervention when it comes to making the wine. Cutting down cost.
You still need hands and machines are cheaper than hands.
To much complain. I have few hectares and is hard to sale and you guys at 80 hectares of course you need a sales team there 😂😂😂😂
Overproduction and decreasing demand. Bordeaux is huuuge, lots of wineries are getting out of business.