Recent articles in newspaper financial sections have reported on the members of the French wine industry bemoaning the fact that imports from the "New World" were severely cutting into their markets, both at home and aboard. In France itself, less expensive foreign wines are replacing the traditional, home grown product. It is our contention, and it has always been so, that the French wine makers have shot themselves in the leg, with their own gun.

We have often commented about the great French wines of the sixties. To tell the truth, they were ethereal. At that time we were lecturing on wine and blatantly put down the imitative California and Australian upstarts who were producing raw imitations of French masterpieces, and for the most part, it was all true. The French, because of their market dominance, began to raise the price of their wine and, wallowing in their newfound affluence, modernized and updated their facilities. Out went the tried and true equipment and in went the stainless steel. The corollary to that is, down went the quality. While this was going on, some of the more unscrupulous wine dealers were importing wine form Algeria and Italy and labeling it as better French wine. Fortunately, a French reporter blew the whistle and in the process, created a very large doubt on all French wines in general. During this period, the American and Australian wine industries had come of age and were producing excellent and in many cases exceptional wines.

So much for the history lesson. Today the American and Australian wine industry, in combination with that of Chile and Argentina, are capturing markets once the proud and exclusive dominion of the French. In France, they are just now waking up to what has happened and perhaps even to its cause. The French producers have blamed the decline in popularity of their wine on the fact that wine production in France is mostly a cottage industry consisting of small private growers, family owned vineyards and wineries and that these cannot keep up with the huge and affluent American wine corporations. That is an out and out lie. The southeastern part of France, known as the Languedoc and Midi, are covered with vineyards most of which are owned by mega international corporations. That area had been considered too hot to grow grapes, or so the French thought, until they adopted California growing techniques. Now the grape thrives there. Burgundy, and Bordeaux are the hegemony of a number of large "Negociants" who buy wine, bottle and ship it. Ever hear of Georges Duboeuf, Barton and Guestier (B&G), Mouton-Rothschild? Small producers … right.

The excuses are weak and really not too believable. This is not to say that there are no producers who are making really fine wines in France, there most definitely are, and the beautiful wines of Alsace prove that. We try to report on these "better" wines in our columns, but for the most part, the French wines of today are quickly made and quickly released with the profit motive seeming to be their main concern.

We have tasted many of the wines coming from France and have found most of them to be wanting. We are aware that the style of the French wines is very much different from the California wines that we are familiar with. Remember, we were drinking the French wines in the 60's and know what quality they were capable of. We are also aware that the particular growing year has a greater effect on European wines that it does in the new World. So we take all of that into consideration in out reviews and opinions.

We believe that the time is right for the French producers to examine their own products, in light of the wider world market and the changing tastes of the public. There is a definite reason for their decline and it is not competition. The answer is very simple, new world wines offer the quality and a style that the modern consumer wants and all this at an affordable price. Simply put, there is no competition if the quality and style is not there. The French will have to search their own hearts and palates to determine their future

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