Saturday, May 31, 2008

The French Wine Industry Fights to Win Over Their 20 Somethings

A few days ago I saw this post on Avenue Vine describing how the 20 somethings in France describe wine as "expensive and old fashioned", complaining that "There are so many names and regions."

You know, it isn't suprising, just because France has such a storied history with wine doesn't mean that the next generation is born with the knowledge of how all the appellation system works and how to know what kind of wine is in a bottle from Corton, Margaux or Gigondas.

Not that I'm spurning tradition, I really like it and I'm not advocating removing the appellation information and replacing it with the grape varietal(s) used in that bottle. That said, having that information and widening the market is a good thing.

Well, talk about synchronicity. I just saw this article describing how the French appellation rules are changing to "fight off the New World challenge".

In a nutshell, France is introducing a new "Wine of France" category that is defined by grape varietal.

Although I don't like how they've relaxed the rules on adding tanning and using wood chips, I think this is a good thing overall and will increase the sales of French wine.

Of course, like all things, progress is not without it's anchors, here is an example of a recent Burgundy ad campaign that was banned for no good reason, it's an elegant and creative ad.

1 comment:

Catherine said...

Excellent article on French wine. Nevertheless, The wine consumption is now declining in France in favor... of soft drinks.

Cathy
Rocket French