Anyone who thinks that Australia can continue to take a larger share of the diminishing global wine market without affecting the fortunes of others should perhaps visit the town of Beziers in France, where riots between French winemakers and authorities have caused police to deploy teargas to contain between 5,000 and 8,000 demonstrators. Last September the winemakers were promised aid to offset losses caused by increasing New World exports which have caused an over-production in France and a fall in prices. Earnings to growers and makers are likely to fall by more than one third this year, in a situation described by the president of the Herault wine producers cooperative as ‘catastrophic’.
