|  Robert Joseph loves French wines. He spent 6 years living in France. The first of his 28 books was on wines of Bordeaux. When he laments that the future for the wine industry in France is dark, one cannot but take a note of it.
'The world today is going towads branded wines, whether we like it or not', says Robert. 'The French do not seem to comprehend that. They need to develop brands. 'Mouton Cadet, J P Chenet are such examples though I don't care much for Cadet,' he added.
'Today there are the maximum number of producers that ever will be. The number has already come down from 20,000 to 11,000 as the producers find it unviable to make wine. Most of these producers are small with no marketing budgets and canot promote their products and cannot survive.'
'Bordeaux Appellation is very confusing and lacks clarity. It is such a small market anyway. In the much hyped En Primeur market only top 50 labels are sold. During the great vintages like 2005 the number may go up to 100. 2006 is going to be a variable year. But generally the number varies from 30-40 to 100. This is too small a number considering the total world market', he emphasises. 'New world wines are looming large. In a study conducted at a UK supermarket, noe of the under-30 women had ever tated a Bordeaux wine though they were the regular wine drinkers,' he added
'French system does not allow freedom of production. It assumes that the farmer is 'stupid' and has to be told what he has to do. There is a clear attitude problem. The fact is that grape farming is not good in Bordeaux, contrary to what you might feel. The laws don't help much either. The law tells you how much grape to take out per hectare, for instance. You may take it out from 7000 vines, in an area where the productivity is good. But where the soil is so bad that you can have only 1000 vines/ hectare, you could take out all that is allowed, from these 1000 vines. Obviously, the quality of these grapes is going to be terrrible and you are penalising the guy with 7000 vines whose soil is very good, to start with'.' The law should restrict yield per vine rather than hectare, he added.
Reacting to the comment about glut in Australia due to unbridled growth in plantation he says, 'The problem in Australia is cyclical. In 2-3 years it will come out of the glut. But in France the problem is structural. It continues to produce wines that the world does not want.'
As you might expect, the French exhibitors at IFE-India do not share his views. Do you?
(for his comments about the Indian wine industry watch out for our next issue, on Tue)
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