Sacre bleu: French wine sales way down (Li'l Tommy's neighborhood)

AP/Aberdeen (S.D.) American News ^ | April 28, 2003 | Staff

[fightinJAG]

Sacre bleu: French wine sales way down Associated Press

ABERDEEN, S.D. -Sales of French wine are down about 75 percent at an Aberdeen store that has the area's largest selection of off-sale wine.

"It's unimaginable, even in Aberdeen, S.D., how (the sale of French wine) has just stopped," said Ron Lindner, manager of the liquor department at Kessler's grocery store.

A rift between the United States and France over the war in Iraq is to blame. According to Lindner, customers are saying if the French won't support the U.S.-led effort in Iraq, then they won't support the French.

He said his store still sells French wine. But before global politics interfered, Kessler's was ordering 20 cases of French wine every month. This month, Lindner said he probably won't order any.

The demand is so low that some wine types won't be resupplied, he said, adding that much of what's on hand has been discounted.

The fallout could lead to other French-produced liquor, such as Gray Goose vodka, Lindner said. And if the situation continues, he said French liquor products could end up in less-desirable shelf locations in the store, further hurting sales.

Information from: Aberdeen American News

[fightinJAG]

If French wine sales are plummeting in South Dakota, I imagine that Li'l Tommy Dasshole is:

1. deeply, deeply saddened, and

2. afraid, very afraid.

Or he should be.

[mabelkitty]

Wow! Whole lotta Bush Democrats in S.D.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

I believe you had the most to do with this Sam.

[fightinJAG]

If they weren't Bush democrats before, they are now!

[Dilly]

I wonder if people who are boycotting French wine in the United States understand that the people they're hurting the most are the American shopowners. Global demand for French wine far outstrips supply, and importers have to bid to buy wine from French vinters. If bids from U.S. importers slow, buyers from elsewhere in the world (particularly Japan) are happy to snap up the wine that would have otherwise been allocated to the U.S. market. The French haven't felt the American boycott one bit. I just feel sorry for the poor American businessmen caught in the middle. They're the ones suffering.

[VOA]

And if the situation continues, he said French liquor products could end up in
less-desirable shelf locations in the store, further hurting sales.

I wonder if this store-owner has enough brains to put up a display with flags of
USA, U.K., Austalia and other Coalition forces...and highlight wines from California
and Australia, and spirits from England, Poland and other friendly spots.

AFAIK, there is no law saying the inventory of a liquor store in the USA
must be reflective of The United Nations.

[Quix]

You mean in

Tommy Dashdull's home neighborhood,

wine sales have been flushed down the

____hole?

What a wonderful fantasy results.

Perhaps someone will follow.

And miracle of miracles,

perhaps then he'll shut his

own

gaping

uhhhh

mouth.

[sarasota]

Au contraire, mon ami. The French have in fact felt the pinch. At least in the press I'm reading. If already-purchased French wines remain on the shelves, let them age and perhaps by the time the French have been forgiven, they will have increased in value. I should think that these shopkeepers would have stopped ordering French wines by now. Let the Japanese drink the wine. We'll stick to the American variety.

[arkfreepdom]

I wonder if people who are boycotting French wine in the United States understand that the people they're hurting the most are the American shopowners. Global demand for French wine far outstrips supply, and importers have to bid to buy wine from French vinters. If bids from U.S. importers slow, buyers from elsewhere in the world (particularly Japan) are happy to snap up the wine that would have otherwise been allocated to the U.S. market. The French haven't felt the American boycott one bit. I just feel sorry for the poor American businessmen caught in the middle. They're the ones suffering.

I don't buy that. If a person wants wine he will buy another brand...and in the same store. Now for some items, such as tires your assessment could be correct since a store may have only french brands. Either way, eff the french. I personally am not prescribing Allegra, since there are equally good anti-histamines.

[alancarp]

.... 3. Able to let Ted Kennedy drive sometimes.

[eastsider]

My local liquor store is simply selling other wines, with no net effect on their sales. (Good thing, too -- its sales of French wines are down 90%-95%!)

[last_one_standing]

If Americans are not bidding on the wine, the demand for the wine is down. Thus, sois the price. The less people want it, the cheaper it becomes. Let the Japs buy it. They will pay less and the French will get less.

[CanadianBacon]

The bad news for the French is that by consumers trying wines from other countries, consumers are realizing that French wines are overpriced and not good value for money.

[fightinJAG]

Can't the "poor American businessman" simply order and stock wines his customers actually want to buy?

Even if, as you say, French producers make up falling sales in the U.S. elsewhere, that doesn't mean the boycott has had no effect.

First, it has a positive effect on the people who have decided to boycott. They are living activism in accordance with their principles.

When French wine is foregone, the bloom slowly fades off the rose of all things French. New products replace the French products and new images of what is "cool" replace French images.

I don't believe for one moment that the French are not worried about a widening boycott of their products. The U.S. is a very necessary market for them.

[tortoise]

Global demand for French wine far outstrips supply, and importers have to bid to buy wine from French vinters.

I don't think this is the case right now. There is generally a world-wide wine glut, which has made it a buyer's market, so it will hurt some. I would point out that French wine imports to the US are a fairly insubstantial piece of trade in the big picture; not that many people were drinking large quantities of it before so the dent on the total French wine market is relatively small. In a healthier wine market, the French could shrug this off, but the French currently need to sell every bottle they can.

I would also point out that most of the really decent French wine is paid for long before it is imported. Much of what is being imported now may have been paid for a couple years ago, so it isn't hurting the French if you boycott the wine, only the distributors. This may squeeze futures, but the economic impact will be delayed.

[fightinJAG]

The French, at the governmental level, should never be forgiven. They have proven over and over again that, as a nation, the French are completely, utterly untrustworthy and not worthy of the name "ally."

[gridlock]

Whole lotta Bush Democrats in S.D.

What makes you think there are any Democrats in South Dakota. And don't say it's because Tiny Tom keeps getting himself elected. We all know you don't have to have actual Democrat voters to elect a Democrat.

[Dilly]

Seems you may not understand how the wine market works. Most vintages are bid for years before they are ready to be drunk. If an American importer bid in 2000 to pay, say $10 a bottle, for a vintage that would be ready for consumption in 2003 but now doesn't want to import that wine because of a boycott in the U.S., he's still stuck with that contract to buy the wine at the price he bid back in 2000. Now he can sell it to the Japanese or to someone else at a discount, but the French still get the price set in 2000. The French aren't hurt at all, the Japanese get a bargain and the American businessman gets screwed. People need to think before they engage in knee-jerk protest actions. Isn't that what we've been telling the left for decades?

[fightinJAG]

HAHAHAHAHAAA

(Did you hear the Teddy soundbite Rush played today? I'm not sure Tommy should EVER let Teddy drive.)

[fightinJAG]

Exactly: this is what truly worries the French wine producers. Once consumers try out other products, and pour a few from the big wine barrels of the rest of the world, they ain't coming back.

As the Brits say so felicitously: Hop off, you frogs.