Word: wine
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...French barely reacted to those seismic shifts, largely because global wine consumption has been growing, up about 10% in the past decade, to 240 million hectoliters annually. But now there's a rude awakening. So many countries have got into the winemaking business like Turkey, China, Brazil--that the world is currently awash in the stuff. In 2004 worldwide production hit its highest level in 20 years, almost 300 million hectoliters, or 15% more than the previous year. The glut is hurting producers everywhere, particularly in Australia, which has surplus wine stocks that exceed a year's worth of exports...
...squeezed out; and the rest, the vast majority caught in the middle, are scrambling to get better--or get out. "The crisis is having a salutary effect," says Christian Delpeuch, managing director of Ginestet, one of the biggest trading houses in Bordeaux and former head of the region's wine-industry lobby group...
...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...
...wine glut's impact is worldwide. In California some wineries have gone bankrupt, including the Legacy Estate Group that owned prestigious brands, including Arrowood, Byron and Freemark Abbey. (The group was sold last month to Kendall-Jackson.) In South Africa grape prices have dropped about 30% this year, prompting a hunt by producers for new markets. In the Friuli region of northern Italy, which specializes in Pinot Grigio and other whites, winemakers' cellars are filling with unsold bottles...