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France Mourns As It Destroys Fine Wine
The Sunday Times ^
| July 3, 2005
| Nicola Smith and Matthew Campbell
Posted on 07/02/2005 5:47:22 PM PDT by quidnunc
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To: quidnunc
Only champagne and the highest quality bordeaux, burgundy and loire wines have been unaffected by the worst crisis for the industry since the phylloxera disease killed off a large portion of the countrys vines a century ago.
Why can't they just drop their prices to become more competitive? I'm still boycotting all things fraunch except Michelin tires (sorry) - I still think they're deluding themselves if they think their drop in market share is due to anything other than their anti-American stance in the UN and Iraq war. ;-)
21
posted on
07/02/2005 6:10:39 PM PDT
by
Tunehead54
(In honor of our bravest in armed service to our nation.)
To: quidnunc
Fellow Freepers, there is a Club Med 6 miles from my house in Port Saint Lucie.
It was always amusing to drive the Ferrari there and wach their puzzlement when you asked for Valet service. - They have none, and from what I saw, they don't know what it means. Lots of laughs.
They have a very good buffet, which includes unlimited tap beer and unlimited bottles of wine (that you just grab from a reach in cooler) for $20.
Also included there is a somewhat hokey French entertainment series in the auditorium, if you wish to attend after you eat.
If you can still stand after all the alcohol you can drink.
I have not been there since the whole Iraq/France thing (I will never return) and I would crawl over broken glass to buy American or Australian wine.
French wine? What is that? - Hey France. Can you hear me?
22
posted on
07/02/2005 6:13:06 PM PDT
by
bill1952
("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
To: K4Harty
Australian reds are excellent, and often lower priced than comparable California wines. (Although when I checked the bottle, it turns out my current glass is from California :-).
Lindemann's is a good winery; we love their Shiraz-Cabernet blend. Yellow Tail and Little Penguin are inexpensive and predictably tasty.
23
posted on
07/02/2005 6:15:14 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("I am saying that the government's complicity is dishonest and disingenuous." ~NCSteve)
To: quidnunc
July 14 sounds like a great day to open a bottle of David Bruce Pinor Noir, grill a nice New York Strip, and celebrate the second fall of France.
To: small voice in the wilderness
<------ errr.. Marks off Thursday the 14th as Steak day...
25
posted on
07/02/2005 6:22:08 PM PDT
by
Sonar5
(60+ Million have Spoken Clearly - "We Want Our Country Back")
To: quidnunc
The source of his melancholy is a European Union-funded process in which some of the quality red wine he produces will be distilled into undrinkable ethanol for use as factory fuel. If this isn't an example of bureaucracy gone mad nothing is. Those of you who experience shadenfreude because this is happening to some Frenchman won't be so gleeful when our Washington elite decide to follow the enlightened EU example here.
ML/NJ
26
posted on
07/02/2005 6:22:27 PM PDT
by
ml/nj
To: K4Harty
And "Black Opal" and "Thirsty Lizard" are good. We shop in the "under $12 for 1.5L" group. There are some really prime Australian wines if you're paying more :-).
27
posted on
07/02/2005 6:23:11 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("I am saying that the government's complicity is dishonest and disingenuous." ~NCSteve)
To: quidnunc
Another failure of French and EU socialism. Price fixing and tariff wars lead by the EU have killed the market for French wine. Free markets work and governments don't.
To: Sonar5
The French are destroying their own wine industry with socialism.
To: Tunehead54; quidnunc
by the worst crisis for the industry since the phylloxera disease killed off a large portion of the countrys vines a century ago. Interestingly, a Dr. Munsen used Texas vines as graftstock for the 500-year old French varietals, saving their sorry asses from phylloxera in 1902.
30
posted on
07/02/2005 6:27:05 PM PDT
by
txhurl
To: quidnunc
Here's to you Jacques, many happy returns.
31
posted on
07/02/2005 6:27:53 PM PDT
by
ncountylee
(Dead terrorists smell like victory)
To: quidnunc
They've got a lot of nerve to call the bulk of French viticulture "fine wine."
32
posted on
07/02/2005 6:31:36 PM PDT
by
Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)
To: Sonar5
I live in Temecula, Ca. and all I buy is the Local wine we produce right here in my little wine valley. Great pinot. Lousy zin. JMO
33
posted on
07/02/2005 6:32:39 PM PDT
by
Carry_Okie
(There are people in power who are truly evil.)
To: Carry_Okie
zin is for sissies.... lol JMO. ;-)
34
posted on
07/02/2005 6:37:06 PM PDT
by
Sonar5
(60+ Million have Spoken Clearly - "We Want Our Country Back")
To: quidnunc; Sonar5
"The source of his melancholy is a European Union-funded process in which some of the quality red wine he produces will be distilled into undrinkable ethanol for use as factory fuel"
That's the funniest item I've read all week!
"Screw France, they can piss all the wine they want, I hope their Grapes rot on the vines..."
Actually all the grape vines in France are descendents from California vines, shipped to France in the early 20th century after France lost their entire vineyard to a heavy frost. Just a bit of trivia.
35
posted on
07/02/2005 6:52:08 PM PDT
by
wrathof59
("to the Everlasting Glory of the Infantry".........Robert A Heinlein)
To: yooper
Yet another Frenchman surrenders without a fight.
I understand, however, that they're keeping the other traditional wines protected from socialist intervention.
Which is somewhat ironic, considering how much they're revered by French socialists....
To: quidnunc
To: quidnunc
How appropriate is this note...?
As I let my Hardys Nottage Hill Merlot (south Eastern Australia) breathe for a moment or two.
Their Shairaz Cabernet is fine wine too.
Let the french twist in the wind and burn their wine for heat, for all I care.
They will rue the day.
38
posted on
07/02/2005 6:53:29 PM PDT
by
mmercier
(Incentives and power equations)
To: wrathof59
Well, can we foreclose on them instead and get them back.
Or even easier, just threaten to bring them back, and france will surrender them, rip them from the ground, deliver them, say thank you to us for taking them back, and then bend over as they usually do.
Well, it's a thought.
39
posted on
07/02/2005 6:56:08 PM PDT
by
Sonar5
(60+ Million have Spoken Clearly - "We Want Our Country Back")
To: quidnunc
geez, from the responses on this thread, you'd think the French did something really horrible to US...
40
posted on
07/02/2005 6:57:11 PM PDT
by
Jagman
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