We were sitting on the deck late in the afternoon, looking over Lake Muskoka, playing Scrabble and drinking Sandhill Chardonnay from British Columbia. Someone said, "I don't drink much Chardonnay, but this is really good." We talked about wine a little, and I threw my letters back because they were all vowels.
Then the same person said, "You know, I've been drinking a lot more French wine recently. I got tired of Australian wine. You can cool French red down a bit in the summer," she went on, "but you can't do that with Australian wine because it's too heavy."
The bit about drinking more French wine would have been music to the ears of French wine producers. As everyone knows, French wine sales in international markets have taken a hit during the last few years as New World wine (Australian especially) has surged.
I'm in France a couple of times a year, and I've had many conversations with producers and industry people about the challenges French wines face and how they might be met. In a sense, of course, the problem is not just French wine itself, even though you can argue that complacency had set in in places and some of the exported wine really wasn't up to par.
But much of the explanation for falling French exports is simply that there is much more competition than there ever was. Once upon a time, French wine ruled the world and it was accepted that the best wine was French. That's just not so any more, and it's safe to say that French wine will never command the reputation and market share it used to.
That said, the French wine industry is fighting back quite effectively on some fronts, and you'll see various promotions in the LCBO and elsewhere. Alsace promoted its wines as ideal partners to Asian food, for example, and in the next few months Bordeaux will make a surprising partnership with a food chain.
Languedoc is perhaps the most aggressive and most successful region, especially with their Vins de Pays d'Oc, which are allowed to use a wide range of grape varieties and to label the wines by variety. (More and more wines from other regions have also started displaying the grape variety as well as the region of production.) Languedoc jumped on the "critter" brandwagon with wines like the French Rabbit in a Tetra Pak and Bad Dog Red, and throughout France producers have launched brands designed to attract younger consumers. Look at the Lulu B Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Rhone-based Louis Bernard.
Branding and cute graphics take you only so far, though. They might sell the first bottle, but it's the wine that sells the rest. And here I detect real improvements in the French range. Most of the inexpensive (under $12) French wines in the LCBO represent pretty good value. Moreover, most are distinctly Old World, even if there are some attempts to make French grapes speak with an Australian accent.
So if French wine has fallen off your LCBO shopping list, follow my friend's example, and check out the "France" shelves for new products.
Today, four sub-$15 French wines for the barbecue.