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French Wines
by tammy on February 1, 2007
From Tearing at the heart of Bordeaux's vineyards:
They call it arrachage, or ripping out, a word that evokes the emotional side of the crisis - tearing out excess vines and, along with them, the very spirit of the people who have nurtured their grapes for generations.
"It's our heart that is being ripped out," Josette Prévot told me recently as we slogged along the snow-covered rows of her 24,000 vines in Bayas, just west of Bordeaux.
The Bordeaux region's southerly vineyards are the hardest hit in France as oversupply from "New World" competition sends prices into a spin.
"I feel awful doing this," Prévot said, her hand on her heart. "Two years ago I never would have thought it possible." In a few weeks about 21,000 vines will be uprooted by a mechanical digger and piled high in the denuded fields. The Prévots dread witnessing the final blow, the burning of the wood.
[...] The prosperous Médoc and St. Emillion appellations have not been affected by the collapse of the market. Their well-known brands continue to sell well at high prices. But low-end discounted wines have slumped to around €1 a bottle in local supermarkets.
Under a program largely financed by the European Union, the Prévots and others will qualify for €12,500, or $16,000, for each hectare, or 2.4 acres, razed. But that is small comfort for abandoning a way of life. One grouping of growers has called this the "agony of the wine business" in southwest France.
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Vote for Bordeaux Gets Heart Ripped Out:
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Rating: 7.00 out of 2 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Mark Pinsent
(02/02/07 10:35am)
Response from:
Tammy
(02/02/07 2:56pm)
I'm sure you are right. It reminds me of some of the same issues in the States such as lumber jacks and fishermen. There's only so much the environment/economy can handle. And things economically change as well.
Response from:
Business Loans
(05/04/07 1:33pm)
It's important to note that French government's itself is responsible
for that state of affairs with his anti-alcohol campaign — "Drink less
but drink better" which has hit the inexpensive wines. In the 1960s,
French consumption was at 126 liters per person. Today it is down to 60
liters.
for that state of affairs with his anti-alcohol campaign — "Drink less
but drink better" which has hit the inexpensive wines. In the 1960s,
French consumption was at 126 liters per person. Today it is down to 60
liters.
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The region produces something like 800 million bottles of wine a year - far too many in the context of a global wine market that has a far greater number of producers than, say, 20 years ago and also in the context of a declining domestic market for wine. In addition, far too much of that production has been poor quality.
The harsh truth is that many Bordeaux wine makers would be better to use their land and agricultural skills in producing something else entirely.