June 24, 2003
APPEASEMENT JUICE SHUNNED
Sales of whiner wine continue to fall:
A study by Information Resources Inc. published in Wine Spectator showed that between April 21 and May 18, sales of French wine in the United States fell by 26.2 percent in terms of case volume, and by 27 percent in dollar value.
CNN/Money reports sales have sagged even in metropolitan areas where there was more opposition to the Iraq war.
Another wine vendor put the blame on the economy and the higher price of French wine.
"I think it's a holdover from the economy," Ray Thompson, manager of S&S Beer and Wine in Dallas, told CNN. "Basically, people are buying less expensive wines. They're switching to more Australian and domestic wines."
And sticking with them, apparently.
Posted by Tim Blair at June 24, 2003 07:24 PMthe australian wines are simply better tasting and far superior values. bring on the shiraz! bring on the chardoneys!
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at June 24, 2003 at 10:17 PMI (an American) am on (and have been on) a complete French boycott and will stay on one for a very long time. I plan on passing this behavior on to my children and (future) grandchildren. Alas, I'm going to Paris tomorrow for business. Do you think waiters will allow me to order an Australian wine?
Posted by: chris at June 25, 2003 at 12:33 AMOne good thing (out of many good things) about this boycott is that I tasted Autrailian wine for the first time. Very, very good. No need to go back to french wines after this.
Posted by: rabidfox at June 25, 2003 at 01:00 AMWell, boo hoo. I hope it hurts. I suspect the decision to slip the dollar against the euro will hurt a lot more, but we all must do what we can.
Chris -- I double dog dare you to ask for Australian wine while in Paris. You'd better wear a codpiece if you do, though. I've heard the pouffes kick when aroused.
Posted by: Harry at June 25, 2003 at 02:15 AMHey Chris,
When you are in Paris, after throwing a large rock to attract the sneering sommelier's attention, place your order thus:
"Hey Frog, bring on a flagon of of steam for me and me mates!";
"Oi, you wogs got any decent woobler?"
Then, claim diplomatic immunity or threaten to expose the boozer as "culturally immature"
Works for Aussies.
Good Luck.
I was at the liquer store the other day, and asked if they had an Austrialian section. The manager pointed out abuot 20 feet of wall space dedicated to it.
I also found out that there are more requests for Aussie wines than there were for French and Italian combined.
Posted by: ErikZ at June 25, 2003 at 04:18 AMFaustino VII Rioja is a great Spanish wine I've been drinking a lot of, not to say too much of. Other excellent non-weasel wines are Woodbridge Zinfandel (USA), Lindemans Chardonnay (Australia), and Pietro Garibaldi Barolo (Italy)
Chris- go to Italian restaurants only and insist on Italian wines to maintain cultural homogeneity. That, or stick to beer.
Posted by: Sasha Castel-Dodge at June 25, 2003 at 04:20 AMHey, Chris, when you're in the restaurant in Paris, just don't ask: is the bread Helga's?
Posted by: Rob at June 25, 2003 at 11:58 AMI've got to get me an Aussie-American dictionary. Honest to God, I have no idea what the hell Harry, Pete or Rob are talking about.
Posted by: chris at June 25, 2003 at 12:26 PMI don't drink much wine, but the wife of a friend is really in to it, so when they brought their family for a get-together a couple of weeks ago I went to the local liquor store and asked for "a couple of moderately priced wines" that a friend who likes wine might like. I got steered to some Australian stuff (one pink, one red -- shows what I know) and I bought a couple.
As an experiment, I didn't let her see the bottles, just gave her the wine. She really, really liked them. She made a point of asking what they were and where they came from. I showed her, and she said there'll be a lot more Ozzie wine on her table from now on. Good enough for me.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at June 25, 2003 at 12:34 PMChris - See if you can get some "Lady in a row'n boat" as the indigenous of Australia call one of their prefered Australian White Wines.
Posted by: Razor at June 25, 2003 at 12:49 PMTim, I've got to get me one of them Yankee dictionaries. Honest to God,I have no idea what the hell Razor is talking about.
Posted by: Rob at June 25, 2003 at 03:18 PMAnything worth drinking produced by the froggies comes with a scary price tag, the cheapest in the $150 Range.
Now, a good Oz red can be had for the $twenties and a super wine at , compared to the above, the pin money of c.$50.
For the price of a Mouton Rothschild, that's 4 or five fabulous OZ reds.
Posted by: d at June 25, 2003 at 03:53 PM