Australia now sells more wine into the US than France, and despite a strong performance by Champagne, which increased exports by 13.2%, only Belgium and Japan managed to hold ground amongst France’s eight major markets. ‘If France doesn’t react we are going to be pushed into a corner by the New World and also by the Italians and Spanish’, says Louis-R̩gis Affre, general secretary of the French Federation of Wine and Spirit Exporters. France’s income from wine and spirit sales rose by 5.6% by value in 2002, but in recent times the French have witnessed falling prices and profits, grower demonstrations and riots, and unsaleable wines being distilled to spirits. Little wonder they’re concerned.
