DAN'S WINE BLOG- THE FRENCH EDITION

2024-08-23

All is not croissants & baguettes for the French wine industry at the moment. Here are a few of their current challenges/concerns.

CHAMPAGNE

Hey Australian winemakers, Image being told by the authorities how many tonnes per hectare (tph) you are allowed to grow?

Well that is exactly what happens in the Champagne Region in France. Each year there is an upper limit to yield set by the authorities, taking into account sales volumes of Champagne around the world and existing stocks in producers cellars.

For the upcoming 2024 vintage (September/ October) the maximum yield permitted has been reduced by 1.4 tph from the 2023 limit. This represents a 12% decrease driven by a 15% drop in global Champagne sales. It does not matter if an individual champagne house can sell all it makes, the restriction applies right across the board.  

Imagine being a small boutique champagne producer who makes say 1,000 cases a year, but this year you are only allowed to make 880? Even though you can sell all 1,000 cases that you normal produce. Boy that sucks!!!

BORDEAUX

According to the CIVB (Bordeaux authorities), around 9,500 hectares of vines (out of the 108,000 hectares) were supposed to be pulled out under the E95 Million “Vine Pull Scheme” over the past year in order to help alleviate the surplus of some 40 million bottles of wine (estimated) as well as reducing the (estimated) 25 million bottles sold at or below production cost. A total that is roughly equivalent to 72 million cases of wine. This figure is the equivalent of around 15% of last year’s total global sales of Australian wine.

However the local media are reporting that only about 3,000 hectares have actually been grubbed out so that the plan has been very far from successful to date, as nearly two thirds of the vines are yet to be removed, and the growing season is now well under way and there are concerns over a higher than normal level of disease pressure coming from unattended vineyards scheduled for grubbing out.

The biggest reason given for this failure is that it was a significantly wetter winter than normal.

SYRAH

At this year’s Global Syrah Masters competition, Australia well and truly beat France, with 50% of the medals awarded including the top ones going to Australian shiraz/Syrah wines. There were eight “Master Medals” to the very top wines in their category, of which seven went to Australian wines!!!

CHINA

China is currently reviewing their tariffs on Cognac with a view to impose a stiff tariff on it, like they did to Australian wine in 2020. Whilst this may not seem significant to most drinkers, it is huge in that China currently buys nearly $1 billion worth of Brandy/Cognac & Armagnac a year, the lost of which would spell disaster for many if not most of the producers.

In addition to this China is considering the possibility of imposing similar tariffs on all European wines because the EU is looking into special tariffs on Chinese electric cars- China currently produces over 50% of the world’s electric cars and this figure is growing especially as Tesla struggles to remain meaningful.

Well whilst all ain’t peachy keen for the Aussie wine industry, I think our freedom from regulations means that it is up to individual producers to be smarter in how they run their business and sell their wines, rather than be told what you can and cant do by authorities!!!

STOP PRESS- A French glass producer has announced a “light weight” Champagne bottle which weighs 800grms instead of the usual 835grms- Wow what a great leap forward for environmental protection!!!!! 4% lighter- Woopty Doo!!!

Have a great week and always #chooseaustralianwine & when possible enjoy #emergingvarieties.

Cheers Dan T