French wine is cheap! Cut production!
French supermarkets are aggressively selling some of the finest wines from Bordeaux Decanter reports today.
Last week, near the French city of Strasbourg, hundreds packed into the suburban supermarket Auchan for its annual Foire aux Vins (wine fair), where top chateaux such as Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, Sociando Mallet and Cos d’Estournel were going for a song.
Chateau Sociando Mallet 2003 was priced at €25 a bottle, Cos d’Estournel 2002 at €49, Léoville Las Cases 2001 at €61 and both Margaux and Mouton Rothschild 2002 at €95.
The article speculates that the lack of strong export markets has led producers offload their wines at home.
Regardless of the motives for favoring the domestic supermarket channel for high-end wines, the INAO has instructed quality producers to take a little wine off the table. The AP reports that production cuts for appellation wines have been put in place across France striking Bordeaux the hardest with a call for a 12% reduction. This is a further effort to remove a persistent surplus since incentives for distillation “failed” earlier this summer. According to the INAO press release, overproduction has led to this across-the-board action. Technically, the regional yields come up for approval every year and they have been allowed only at the low end of the range this year.
Maybe they need a “two euro Charles” like the Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw) to mop up some of the excess? Pairing supermarkets with cheap wine seems like a better match.
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UPDATE:
Decanter reports on violent protests in the Macon (Burgundy) as a result of the lower allowable yields.
