Sunday, August 22, 2004
Rich grape harvest worries Bordeaux wine makers
Indo-Asian News Service St Emilion, August 22
The rich grape harvest in the Bordeaux wine district this year that would normally have been a cause for celebration for any wine producer has turned into a cause for worry, reports UPI.
The reason: too much wine is being produced, and too little is being sold. There is no room in the cellars to stock the new wine. They are filled to overflowing with unsold stocks of earlier years.
The last days before the vendange, or the picking of the grapes - always a magical time in Bordeaux - are viewed this time as a disaster with the fat and sweet grapes hanging from the endless ranks of vines.
"The vines have succeeded brilliantly, they explode with fruit. The land is generous and will allow to put another 80 million litres of Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieure into the cellars," says Francoise Rion, who runs the wine cooperative of Sauveterre.
But, along with a thousand or so of the region's smaller wine producers, he faces the end of a family business that goes back generations.
Whether at home in the French market or abroad, the prices have dropped alarmingly. The price for a barrel of 900 litres has been set at 920 euros - which is less what it costs a producer to make it.
There are three reasons afflicting the French wine industry. The first is that the French no longer drink as their parents did. Forty years ago, in 1965, the French consumed on an average 115 litres of wine per head. Last year, they consumed only 60 litres per head.
Second has been the explosion of competition from the "New World" wines, of South America, South Africa, New Zealand and above all Australia.
Ten years ago, in 1994, France had 26 percent of the vast American market and Australia had but 5 percent. This year France's share has fallen to 14 percent and the Australians have soared into the lead with 26 percent of the market. The Australians have also overtaken France in sales in Britain, the biggest export market for Bordeaux wines.
Thirdly, the tough new laws against drunk driving brought in last year by the then Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy has had a dampening effect.
Faced with heavy fines, loss of driving permit and prison in serious cases, French drivers have sharply cut back their consumption and French restaurants saw a 20 percent drop in their sales of wine last year.
Anti-alcoholism campaigns have blocked ads for wine, and the Omnivin trade group says that for the first time last year, more than half of the French population drank no wine at all.
With the state of affairs not likely to improve, the Bordeaux region is likely to see a steady fall in the number of winemakers.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.