Leading wine industry figures have called France - and Bordeaux - 'dysfunctional'.
Speaking at a Vinexpo conference on the topic of solutions to France's viticultural crisis, Tony Spawton, associate professor of wine marketing at the University of South Australia, said France's wine industry needed to address its serious infrastructure problems.
'The fact the world's leading wine region is having to distill wine is a bad sign,' said Spawton.
'Bordeaux should be selling everything,' he said. He also criticised the region for being too focused on Parker points and said it was no longer a benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon.
He predicted that first growths would associate themselves increasingly with luxury goods and less with wine, and said that mid- to low-end producers must consolidate in order to survive.
'Spain is amalgamating co-ops, and Italy is in the process. France has not done it,' he said.
Another speaker, UK wine writer Robert Joseph - who produces wine in France - said dysfunctionalities in Bordeaux, and France in general, existed at many levels.
He cited a 'lack of wine branding, poor marketing - with the exception of Champagne' - and the fact that Bordeaux customers are 'blackmailed' into buying.
Many Bordeaux negociants agreed that sales methods must be changed quickly, and called the recent freeze on purchases by two major American buyers - Southern Wine and Spirits and Diageo's Chateau & Estate Wines - good news.
'It is a kick up the arse that will make them live in the real world,' said one French producer who asked not to be identified.
'The biggest change will be producers actually asking themselves who is drinking, why, and questioning the blind assumption that there is a market out there for this kind of wine.'
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Consider the source. As Australia's own wine industry is in a downward trend, how hypocritical to say such things. Those who live in glass houses... Also, Michel Gassier is right- why lump the entire French wine industry as Bordeaux? Last time I checked there were at least 9 other regions that seem to be doing no complaining. As for Bordeaux no longer being the reference for Cabernet and that they are obsessed with Parker points, I say that I would rather drink 12.5-14% wines from Bordeaux then 14-16% wines which are overly concentrated/extracted and have no gastronomical appeal.
Erik Primeau, Montreal, Canada
One big reason I would like to point out is many wine buyers that buy 10$-30$ wine to drink as there “everyday” wine STILL know nothing about French wine and how to buy it. France is missing the market as Americans are lazy but curious about wine and like to think they know a bit about wine. Bottom Line. PROMOTE AND EDUCATE THE US MARKET ABOUT FRENCH WINE.
On a personal note it am a sommelier in Austin, Texas and most wine I drink is Fabulous French Wine. It was not until I studied wine that I realized what was available and how to “read” French labels.
I WOULD LOVE TO BE A PART OF EDUCATING US WINE DRINKERS ABOUT FRENCH WINE. Just as Texas is educating people about Texas wine (we are now making so good wine, but still limited) Educate us on French wine. Again, Americans are lazy and will continue to buy wine that is easy to understand and do not have to “translate” Chateau language.
Sue Ellen Crossfield, Texas, USA
We have been wasting precious time in our lives repeating ourselves. France is sleeping on it laurels, and will not face reality.
I as one do the bare minimum work with French producers who I find in the majority stuck up and with a mentality that they are doing you a favour to supply you with wine.
The problem with France is Generic, not just Bordeaux - Rose' D'anjou for example are increasing prices, when, in these difficult times, we are all trying our best to keep the wheel going.
It is a proven fact, that France has the ability of producing good wines, but they must also realise that to day comparatively new players like Italy and Spain, not to mention New world producers and especially South American ones, are on the market too - and with an aggressive approach.
The fact that new markets like Russia and China are asking for French wines, will not guarantee a future to French wines, as these markets too will soon discover the "new alternatives".
Victor Bonello, Malta
One more article that summarizes the French Wine industry to just Bordeaux. There are dynamic wine regions in France such as the Rhone valley that is evolving rapidly, consolidating its cooperatives, and making the type of wines that consumers are looking for. What we lack in marketing expertise (a real handicap for low to mid range wines), we compensate by terroir expertise on high end wines. France is not dead, just beware of black & white opinions...
Michel Gassier, Château de Nages, Chemin des Canaux
The problem with French wine, aside from Champagne, is that too many producers are riding on the perceived association of France with wine. France, with Italy someway behind, has the most prevalent association with wine internationally. And this, plus local demand, has let a good number of ordinary producers exist. Now with local demand dropping, and with rising competition in international markets many French producers are struggling.
Those that simply don't produce a decent product should fail - we should shed no tears.
The pity is that there are reasonable vignerons, and many who could so very easily (just a touch of motivation and technology) be decent – but they are very poor marketers. They haven't needed to learn in the past, they just rode on the French brand. And they are bound up and obsessed by local branding regulations which mean little or nothing to most consumers.
French labels are a minefield. And even when they function as brands they often let slack producers ride on the work of the good ones. Consequently consumers steer clear.
France continues to produce some of the best wine in the world, and at this top end there is a motivated market of retailers and consumers (aided by Decanter) who seek the best out and give these top producers the prices they deserve. But below this level, and outside of the best known regions, the market needs to be marketed to.
It's odd that producers from France's best known wine, Champagne, tend to also be its most energetic and sophisticated marketers. Why do other regions and producers, who have a far greater need for marketing, do so little? Why do they moan that we consumers pay them insufficient attention when they ignore us?
Professor Byron Sharp, University of South Australia
I think it is a grave error to assume that Bordeaux, as a unit, or any
other broad wine region will profit from branding. Places like this
are diverse and the suggestion of amalgamation can only hurt and
create confusion. For instance, the success of Rhone's diverse sub-
regions rely on the fact that they stand by themselves. Could you see
any good coming from the idea of having Gigondas, Cote-Rotie and
Chateauneuf in the same bag? And I am highly suspicious that most
people do not even realize they belong to the "same" place. Their
singularity is their brand.
In fact, a sloppy kind of branding is the current problem of Bordeaux.
The integration of distinct places such as Pomerol and Pauillac into
the same stamp goes against common sense. If they taste different, it
should be sold as a different product. The success of Australian
Brands, or any other brand, does not only rely on quality. Quality can
be achieved almost anywhere. It relies on consistence of taste. The
consumer comes back because he or she knows what to expect. For this
reason, the unaware consumer that inadvertently switches from Pomerol
to Pauliac, or vice versa, might associate Bordeaux as an inconsistent
brand. Therefore, a bad one.
Standardization of palate, Parkered or not, is the other problem. It
lessens the regional characteristics of different places and all the
attributes that hocked a certain consumer to that wine in the first
place. It alienates the consumer base. It also polarizes that region
between those who follow and those who flout. And that generates
inconsistencies in brand identity. But the worst possible scenario is
the ultimate loss of competitive value. If one overpriced Margaux
taste similar to a high value Maipo Cabernet, why should the consumer
pay more for it?
Reading an Australian wine marketeer saying that Europe would profit
from broad regional branding, and the implicit standardization that
comes with it, sounds either a bad intentioned or a very naive
suggestion. They simply could not compete with the economy of scale,
consistence and availability of wine from a few of the new world wine
regions.
Paulo Prado, Rio de Janeiro
Thumbing one's nose at “lazy” Americans is itself lazy—reliance on stereotype at the expense of critical distinctions. Such as this: The U.S. is a consumer-oriented market: Customers must be served not sold, wooed, catered to. Producers who don't author their own discontent. It is a new wine market and Americans generally want wines they like the taste of at affordable prices, ready for drinking sooner rather than later. They prefer varietal labeling to the sacred AOCs (that's another story, often embarrassing, occasionally shameful). Producers around the world—even some French ones—want to serve that market (whose population is, after all, 300-odd million); thus U.S. wine consumption grows annually. In France (and other European countries), an ancient market, most producers “make what they make” and let it go at that because their customers are locals who simply take what's offered, never asking for better nor knowing it exists. So French producers often stumble in marketing partly because they've seldom had to market. That situation persisted until late in the last century, when all events conspired against them. Italy devoted itself to quality wine (now it's Spain's turn; Eastern Europe lurks in the wings). Punishing competition came from wine's “New World,” led by bumptious Napa. At home there was betrayal enough for a long-running soap opera. First, French youth skanced wine as “Dad's drink,” opting for fizzy pop even as they thronged McDonald's. Second, a truly nasty strain of puritanism got out of its cage and relentlessly attacked the wine industry, demanding and getting ever more restrictive laws, some of which equate wine with hard drugs. Yes, the French wine industry is dysfunctional—who hasn't noticed that? The real question is whether it can right itself before the EU at last grows weary of pay the subsidies that keep so much of it afloat.
Bill Marsano, New York
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