“The government has promised more money, but this will not solve the problems in the long-term. There must be more protection for French wine producers on the domestic market,”
"Wine is not the same as other
commercial products like milk for example, wine changes from vineyard
to vineyard, it reflects the field and the vine and the individual
producer. It is not like that for some of these Australian firms,”
And so, the French winemakers in the South riot.
There is a lot of blame fermenting within the French wine industry. Some of it is focused on foreign competition. Some of the blame is aimed at the producers of Bordeaux who have been planting while those in the south of France have been removing vines. Some of the blame is focused on the government, which the rioting growers believe is simply not giving growers enough support (read: free Euros)
It is impossible to understand the rioting winemakers of France by looking at them through an American lens. Do this and you must come to the conclusion that "the whiners aren't willing to compete and just want government handouts".
The French long ago chose the welfare state as their way of organizing societal needs. This extends to industry. So to hear the French cry out for more state aid to overcome their own stupid business decisions and the fact that other country's have caught up in quality and market share is really just par for for the French course.
However, what de Gaulles me is this notion expressed by so many french vintners and Frenchmen that while the french have some inner, cultural, spiritual connection to the vineyards and the wine they produce, those from other countries, like Australia and the United States, are incapable of such connection and therefore illegitimate.
Look at that quote at the top. How patronizing can you get? Yet, it's this very argument that the French vintners slime the media and government with in their demand that there be protection for the French domestic wine market.
By the way, what does that mean? What would "more protection for French wine producers on the domestic
market" actually look like? Tariffs? I say more power to them. Go ahead and protect the antiquated, anti-consumer sloth-inspiring industry the rioting whiners feel needs protecting. In the mean time the rest of the world will continue to make better and better wine, find ways to make it attractive or consumers (including the French variety), and take over more and more of the world wine market.
