The French Wine.

[LabelKing]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061206/...eu/france_wine

 

[babygreenspots]

"Sales of wines from China, the United States and Australia have inched up in the last 10 years, edging out French producers."

The research I did on the Chinese wine market, while developing an entry model for a US client, never showed that China had become a major exporter.

There are some exports of Dragon Seal and Dynasty, but China is still a net importer of wine, thank god. Chinese wine brands import Chilean wine by the barrel to mix with their own wine, thus making it almost drinkable.

I wonder where they got this idea.

Anyway, this initiative by the French government is a good one. I hope that those knee-jerk pansies don't succeed in blocking it. Everybody needs more wine education.

It's a comparatively difficult kind of alcohol to counterfeit - yet another reason why it is healthier choice than hard liquor.

 

[denning]

Sorry to hijack the thread Labelking, but I have to rant a little. Whatever happened to proper spelling? I open up the link and the first thing I see is "French Vinters"...Correct me if I'm wrong (and the one time I speak up I probably am) but isn't it vintners? Nowadays it seems no one is bothered with proper spelling. You see incorrect spelling everywhere, and it's almost tacitly accepted. My aunt and uncle are both teachers and are of the ilk that believe spelling doesn't matter, it's all about getting your point across (would've made school a lot easier for me). And people wonder why students are getting dumber and dumber.

End rant. Please continue to discuss wine. Mmmmmm vino.......

 

[dkzzzz]

...and that is why EU countries have to pay hundreds of millions of euros to French wine makers to subsidize French wines, which are big, moldy and watery myth.

 

[Zubberah]

Too little too late. The French appellation system is too difficult to understand for non-wine lovers, the labels confusing, etc. Most studies show that those under 30 when they pick up a bottle of wine they want to know the grape variety and the region. French labels don't have the grape variety (and most have no idea what Vosne-Romanee or Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Pauillac are and frankly couldn't care), much less which varietals are associated with them. The French have been getting away with sub-standard robbish in the under $20 category for the best part of 50 years and this is why new world wines from Australia, NZ, Chile, US have been so very successful. Fruit-driven wines (none of this terroir crap at cheap end; read "faulty&quot, easy to read, easy to drink, quality punching well above its weight. Generation X,Y, and Z drinking Bordeaux? Haha.

 

[Christofuh]

Disclaimer
I'm not a wine expert nor do I play one on this forum.



I don't recall having a French wine that wasn't pisswater. On the other hand, I never had Italian one that wasn't at least decent.
Last time I picked up a bottle of champagne, it was by Bollinger. One of very few makers that still stores their stuff in oak barrels. ( Unlike some other peasant swill producers, I guess. ) Guess what ? Nothing to write home about

Somebody told me that a good way to gauge the quality of unfamiliar wine is to check its origin on the label. The more detailed it is ( down to a particular chateu ) the better. Any truth to that ?

 

[Christofuh]

Where did everybody go

 

[dkzzzz]

For Champagne try Roederer Estate, Anderson Valley. Blanc de some crap. It's a rose champagne with a rose foil on the bottle. It is just plain delicious. And not in that sugary "oh so sweet" way. It's creamy slightly sweet, aromatic as hell and has wonderful acidity that lingers on your tongue. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.
Californian Champagne for $18.99

 

[Christofuh]

Last time I had a nice French champagne it was by Piper Heidseick. Which I bought pretty much @ random. Won't say I was blown away by it, but it was fairly decent. The thing is, you ask the floor people what's good ( not too dry or sugary ), and they keep giving you conflicitng responses

.