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In Bordeaux, some growers are in tears
Frank J. Prial/NYT NYT Wednesday, August 11, 2004 BORDEAUX With their elegant gardens in the English style, their placid swans, their manicured lawns and their meticulously trimmed vines spreading to the horizon, the great wine chateaux of Bordeaux are pictures of prosperity. The 2002 vintage has just been bottled, and the small, uneven 2003 vintage, most of it already sold at double the 2002 prices, is maturing in oak barrels. But these great estates, most of them members of the prestigious Union des Grands Crus, account for barely 5 percent of the Bordeaux's production. For the 95 percent outside this magic circle in what was once the undisputed capital of the wine world, life has grown grim. Their vineyards are in what may be the deepest crisis since the phylloxera aphid devastated Bordeaux's vineyards more than 100 years ago. For the French wine industry as a whole, these are tough times. Domestic consumption is down, foreign competition and the weakness of the dollar have battered exports, overproduction is rampant, and needed changes are thwarted by obsolete rules and regulations. Bordeaux has been hit particularly hard because it is the largest of the country's wine regions and wine is central to its economy. The Bordeaux appellation comprises well over 10,000 wine properties, most of them small (eight hectares or less, about 20 acres) and many of them in trouble. Privately, industry figures here predict that 600 to 1,000 smaller producers may be forced to close over the next few years. Patrick Tauzin is a small producer in the quiet southernmost reaches of the Bordeaux region. He has never dined with the Rothschilds at Lafite, but he is a Bordeaux winemaker nonetheless. He farms about 35 hectares of grapes at St.-Pierre d'Aurillac, 55 kilometers, or 35 miles, southeast of the city of Bordeaux. He produces about 16,000 cases a year. He is 44 years old, has a wife and two children and cannot make a living from his wine. Yet feels no compunctions about sneering at America. Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-11 |
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