Word: bordeaux
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...shakeout is a case study in globalization's impact. The best place to see it is in Bordeaux, the biggest French fine-wine region and perhaps the most prestigious. The place is suddenly rife with division: between winemakers and the merchants who traditionally sold their vintages; the top-name châteaux that enjoy worldwide fame--and that are making money faster than you can say premier grand cru classé--and the 9,000 others, about 500 of whom are estimated to be in dire straits; traditionalists and reformers."We thought we were the king of carrots. We just didn...
Driving those changes is a new attitude among Bordeaux's main customers, French supermarkets. They're driving an increasingly hard bargain because per capita wine consumption in France has halved since the 1960s and wine is no longer a staple with meals, being supplanted by soda and water. It didn't help that Bordeaux made a huge strategic mistake by stepping up plantings in the late 1990s--a move that increased production and exacerbated the already growing pressure on prices. As a result, the balance of power has shifted. "Until 2001, the mentality of producers was to say, 'I make...
Some of the Old Guard in Bordeaux shudder at those tough measures, but the region is racing to better compete. Taking a page from the Aussie book, they are trying to simplify the branding by consolidating some of the 57 separate appellations that are now marketed. Five big areas--Côtes de Blaye, Côtes de Bourg, Côtes de Castillon, Côtes de Francs and Côtes de Bordeaux--are planning to combine into a single, expanded Côtes de Bordeaux label. And the Interprofessional Bordeaux Wine Council, the main industry group, recently scrapped 1990s regulations that forbade vintners...
...conundrums for Bordeaux is its renown. The region's top wines command investment-banker prices because of their quality and limited supply. These makers have no interest in being associated--even remotely--with down-market plonk. Why would they when Château Cheval Blanc and Château Lafite-Rothschild, for example, are currently selling their 2005 vintage for about $700 a bottle? But producers in the middle aren't happy. They worry that the massive price increases pushed through by the likes of Château Pontet-Canet will give consumers the message that all Bordeaux are expensive. "What does...
Indeed, one of the big concerns around Bordeaux is less about how to move aggressively into a bright new future and more about how to avoid a damaging fragmentation between those who are doing well and those who aren't. "It's almost like a Latin American economy, some very rich and some very poor. This could cause a revolution," worries Pierre Lurton, who runs two of the most exclusive properties, Château Cheval Blanc in the St. Emilion region and Château d'Yquem, the world-famous sweet white Sauternes. Back at Château Pontet-Canet, Tesseron sits down...