With the year half-gone already—my Lord, where does the time go?—it might be smart to look back and see what’s happened. As mentioned last month, water is a key issue on everybody’s mind and not much has changed there. But as growers, I think we’re doing our share of conservation, and maybe the government entities in charge of water rights and dam construction can get their act together and let us save the water that comes down in the winter. We’d be a lot further ahead had they let us build reservoirs in years past. I guess that still wouldn’t make our lawns green, though.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the French are at it again on a couple different fronts. As of March 2009, a previous agreement on wine words expired and now many words that we’ve used on wine labels are illegal and cannot be sold in the European Union. Port and Sherry are a couple of the words that we can no longer use on wines exported to the EU, but that’s not a real big problem. The heavier issues are the words “Clos” and “Chateau.”
Currently, 15 U.S. wineries use “Clos” in their name, and another 60 use “Chateau.” Will wineries change their name or just say the hell with the European market? I guess time will tell. Certainly, Clos du Bois and Chateau St. Jean will be fun to watch.
Why are the French doing this? Probably just because they’re French and looking to protect their own interests in the European marketplace. Frankly, I’m not sure I can disagree with them—as much as that hurts to say. Perhaps a better question is why U.S. wineries have used French terms to begin with. Are they trying to fool the public into thinking they’re French-based?
Maybe I should throw out my usual argument against exporting wines to Europe. We have the biggest untapped market of potential wine drinkers in the world right here in America; maybe we should tap it before spending all the time and money on exporting. But, of course, that would eliminate European sales trips (a business vacation?). Besides, the French will do anything to keep our wines out of their marketplace because the consumers will discover they like American wine better than French. As a second thought, however, maybe these “Chateau” and “Clos” wines deserve all of this for trying to emulate the competition.
What’s happening in France? Recently released numbers indicate fewer French people are drinking wine now than at any time in history. Forty percent of the French people who are of legal drinking age don’t appreciate or drink wine at all. Only 21 percent drink wine regularly. (That number was 51 percent in 1980.) Per capita consumption has fallen from 160 liters (42 gallons) to 67 liters (18 gallons) in the last 40 years. Still a far cry from our paltry 2+ gallons per capita.
The drop in consumption is happening all over Europe, including Italy, which is down about one third. Why? I suspect there are many answers or factors, but certainly competition from other nonalcoholic beverages is very important. A greater awareness of alcoholism is also frequently sited, as well as other health issues. To quote a recent French press release: “To the anger of the drinks industry and disbelief of many patriots, the Ministry of Health has made alcohol one of the chief villains in a drive against cancer.” The guidelines state that “the consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged.” Are all of the studies about antioxidants and other things in wine not true? Dominique Maraninchi, president of France’s National Cancer Institute (INCA), actually said, “Small daily doses of alcohol are the most harmful. There is no amount, however small, which is good for you.”
A government brochure states that “a single glass of wine per day will raise the chance of contracting cancer by up to 168 percent.” How have the neo-pros gotten their feet, or whole body, into the French government? Those guys are even worse than our own political enemies who will try anything to get prohibition back. Have all of our doctors and others around the world been wrong all of this time? Maybe the French are as crazy as we think they are. Should I mention that President Sarkozy is the first (and hopefully the last) teetotaling President of France?
Our latest little skirmish with ourselves is where we’ve been trying to get the millennial generation to embrace wine. If some recent winery open houses are any example, we may be succeeding and not know how to handle it. If you recall a few months back, I mentioned the problem of buses and limos visiting tasting rooms. With none of the passengers having to drive, it seems to give them a license to drink, not just taste, and as the day goes on, they become more boisterous and frequently obnoxious. Most tasting room personnel aren’t trained very well on how to handle this problem, nor should they be for the normal pittance they’re being paid.
The other conflict is between our more boisterous younger generation and the older, dyed-in-the-wool tasters who want quiet and to treat wine with respect. These same (psuedo-) sophisticates are the ones who obviously didn’t support the now-defunct COPIA fiasco. Maybe operas and fine art go with wine, but it doesn’t seem to mix with our new generation of consumers. Unfortunately, one of the ways to slow down this behavior occurring in the tasting room is to charge more for tasting—but then we all pay the price. In the Paso Robles area, there’s a program that involves the transportation companies and puts responsibility on them to control their clients.
I’m totally aware that most younger people are out to have a good time rather than to seriously taste wine to help with future purchases. Unfortunately, it’s like many other things in our life where it only takes a couple of jerks to spoil it for everybody. I’ll probably be shot for saying this, but if you look at downtown Healdsburg, with it’s large number of tasting rooms in a very close proximity to each other, there isn’t even a chance to rest or sober up a bit between stops—at least until your knees wear out.
When I ask for a bottle a day, I don’t mean to do it all on one weekend. Taste, have fun, enjoy and let everyone else do the same. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
