Word: dairien
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...competitors from Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa. When French exports started to fall after a bumper year in 1998, growers wondered if they'd got something wrong. "We used to make wine that we knew was good and assumed it would sell itself," says Jean-Luc Dairien, general manager of the French Wines Council, "but that just doesn't work any more...
...Until now, all our regulations have been designed to protect the upper half of the quality spectrum," says Dairien. The French have been blind-sided by New World competitors' reasonable prices, strong brand identities and consistent quality. "The Australians have concentrated all their marketing on the middle and lower market segments that account for the biggest volumes," says Dairien. "We're going to have to completely rethink the way we regulate our production." A report to the French Senate this month proposes radical solutions, like mixing the produce of different regions and vintages in single-grape-variety wines and adding...
Like other industries, France's wine trade is belatedly discovering that globalized markets call for new ways of doing business. "Our producers and distributors are going to learn fast, because they've got no choice," says Dairien. Once they've sorted out the wine, maybe they'll get started on the cheese...
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