French wine slips from perch as number one exported wines worldwide

Wines from Italy, Spain and Australia ending up on more menus and more tables around the globe

Once considered far and away the undisputed best and market-leading wines in the world, wines from France have been battling stiff competition from other countries in the past couple of decades. However, it always retained the number one spot, in terms of both perception and reality, with more French wines being exported than wines from any other country.

But all this is changing. While wine production in France is declining, it is increasing in other countries that are known wine producers, such as Australia, Spain, Italy and the US. Once considered inferior to French vintages, wines from these countries routinely take home prizes in competitions. And there are new players coming to the field: Argentina and  Chile, and even  China and India.

France has been slow to acknowledge the changing landscape and slow to react. Marketing has not traditionally been a French forte, and it must not have seemed necessary in industries in which France has been historically predominant, such as wine and high fashion. Indeed, for many years, French output in these areas spoke for itself, becoming world-famous and sought-after virtually without any marketing efforts. The reputation French wines enjoyed around the world was largely unchallenged.

But now, with globalization a reality, French winemakers are starting to realize that that world is changing, and that not only do they not have a corner on the market, that they may not have much of a market at all if they don’t get out there and hustle, as gauche as it must seem. Competition has brought prices down, and more people are consuming wines, both inexpensive table wines and more costly wines as well. Besides not being marketed as aggressively as wines from other countries, wines from France suffer from other disadvantages where the average and less sophisticated consumer is concerned.

The long traditions that have made French wines great are also a barrier to their popularity overseas. For example, other countries, including the US, while often mentioning the region of origin, label their wines based on the type of grapes used.  This gives the consumer, especially one without an extensive education in the history or wine, a much better idea of what to expect than the French system. French wines are all labeled based on appellation, or area of origin, what the French call “terroir”.  Terroir refers not only to the location but also to the conditions of the climate and the soil in the area, and many other subtle factors may also contribute. These do affect the grapes and the wine produced from them, and fierce battles are fought among French vintners over who may or may not call their wine a Chablis premier cru based on whether vines grow in a patch of dirt a few hundred feet in one direction or the other. Many different types of grapes may be grown in the the same AOC region (appellation of origin), yielding different wines that are nonetheless labeled with the name of the place rather than the varietal. But while wine enthusiasts in France and small coterie of connoiseurs in other countries understand this language, most consumers are lost when reading a French wine label. But they know what they are getting with a Spanish Rioja, an Australian Shiraz or a Napa Valley Chardonnay. And this clarity is contributing to sales as much or more than any actual preference for what’s inside the bottle, especially for supermarket shoppers

The idea that French wines should follow the lead of the rest of the world and be labeled by grape variety for purposes of marketing is met by horror by most in the French wine business. Certainly, those who have defended for years, perhaps centuries, the right to a certain appellation are the most vociferous opponents to change. And those who know France know that no change, especially in a heavily regulated industry, ever comes quickly in France, even if some people may desire it. There are a few in the French wine industry who see the writing on the wall (or the label) and have made the case that French AOC rules are too complicated for anyone to understand. Some propose retaining appellations but also adding the grape varieties to the labels.

It remains to be seen whether a compromise will ever be reached, and if that happens before wines from France all but disappear from all but the most discerning tables in other countries.