Why does French wine suck so bad?

[Dinner]

This is a serious question. Today I bought a bottle of "Red Beret" Cote du Rhone wine for $16.99. It is crap. If it was grown in California, Chile, or Australia it would be a $2.99 per bottle. I have noticed a trend that there are a lot of over priced generic blend French wines which are sold at a premium but which are actually total rubbish. Why are so many French wines garbage?

Maybe it is because people see that it is grown in France and are willing to pay a premium for it (this only works for so long as Cadalliac can testify) or maybe it is because of some defect in the French wine production system. I think it is a little of both with the edge going towards a defect in the current French system. The majority of French grape growers are small family farmers (the CAP subsidies system has made this possible) most of whom don't actually market their own wines. Instead each production region collectivizes the total grape harvest and blends it into large quantities of garbage wine. I suspect this is the main cause.

Lord knows France does make some excellent, though far to expensive, wines most of which come from elite producers who do not take part in the collectivized agreements. The elite producers do not want anyone else's grapes and they won't put their name on wine which has come from anyone else's vineyard.

What should France do? They have excellent wine growing regions but the way those regions are currently orginized causes the majority of the wine to be crap. Surely, there is a better way.

[chequita guevara]

Because the weather in Frane is notorious for being wildly inconsistent. The best French wines are among the very best, but sometimes it's just a bad year. Also, most French wine is table wine, which isn't terribly high quality stuff.

BTW, French wine is expensive because it is both imported and because the U.S. has tariffs on French wine.

[SlowwHand]

Napa Valley.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Because the weather in Frane is notorious for being wildly inconsistent. The best French wines are among the very best, but sometimes it's just a bad year. Also, most French wine is table wine, which isn't terribly high quality stuff.

BTW, French wine is expensive because it is both imported and because the U.S. has tariffs on French wine.

QTF -- I was typing these very thoughts when I got a phone call. It's good to have che do all the work for me.

[Barnabas]

How Is porto wine ? Ill buy a bottle of it for the first time tomorrow, I know it is famous

[Zkribbler]

From Wikipedia

Port wine (also known as Vinho do Porto, Oporto, Porto, or simply Port) is a sweet Portuguese fortified wine from the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is often served as a dessert wine. Several imitations of Port are produced around the world in several countries—most notably Australia, South Africa, India and the United States. However, under European Union guidelines (and in Canada), only the product from Portugal may be labelled as Port. In a similar vein, Federal law in the United States mandates that the Portuguese-made product be labelled Porto or Vinho do Porto.

Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the Douro region, the wine produced is then fortified with the addition of distilled grape spirits in order to boost the alcohol content. The wine is then stored and aged, often barrels stored in caves (Portuguese meaning "cellars") as is the case in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled. The wine received its name, "Port" in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe from the Leixões docks. The Douro valley where Port wine is produced was defined and established as a protected region, or appellation in 1756 — thus making it the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world.

It's been decades since I've had a dessert wine or a fortified wine, and I've never hand port, so I can't really comment.

[SlowwHand]

It's like a mongrel dog.

[Zkribbler]

mongrel dogs
wet mongrel dogs

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride
How Is porto wine ? Ill buy a bottle of it for the first time tomorrow, I know it is famous

You probably won't know until you've tried it. Some people really like it, some really don't. I'm kind of 'meh' on it (at least Sherry).

[Zkribbler]

HAVE SOME MADIERA, M'DEAR
(Flanders and Swan)

She was young, she was pure, she was new, she was nice
She was fair, she was sweet seventeen.
He was old, he was vile, and no stranger to vice
He was base, he was bad, he was mean.
He had slyly inveigled her up to his flat
To view his collection of stamps,
And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,
The wine, his cigar and the lamps:

Have some madiera, m'dear. You really have nothing to fear.
I'm not trying to tempt you, that wouldn't be right,
You shouldn't drink spirits at this time of night.
Have some madiera, m'dear. It's really much nicer than beer.
I don't care for sherry, one cannot drink stout,
And port is a wine I can well do without...
It's simply a case of chacun a son gout
Have some madiera, m'dear.

Unaware of the wiles of the snake-in-the-grass
And the fate of the maiden who topes,
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.
She sipped it, she drank it, she drained it, she did!
He promptly refilled it again,
And he said as he secretly carved one more notch
On the butt of his gold-headed cane:

Have some madiera, m'dear,
I've got a small cask of it here.
And once it's been opened, you know it won't keep.
Do finish it up. It will help you to sleep.
Have some madiera, m'dear.
It's really an excellent year.
Now if it were gin, you'd be wrong to say yes
The evil gin does would be hard to assess..
Besides it's inclined to affect me prowess,
Have some madiera, m'dear.

Then there flashed through her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath,
"Oh my child, should you look on the wine that is red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!"
She let go her glass with a shrill little cry,
Crash! Tinkle! it fell to the floor;
When he asked, "What in Heaven?" She made no reply,
Up her mind, and a dash for the door.

Have some madiera, m'dear.
Rang out down the hall loud and clear
With a tremulous cry that was filled with despair,
As she fought to take breath in the cool midnight air,
Have some madiera, m'dear.
The words seemed to ring in her ear.
Until the next morning, she woke in her bed
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head...
And a beard in her lug 'ole that tickled and said:
Have some madiera, m'dear!

[DAVOUT]

As far as I know, Red Beret is a "marketing wine", only built for export; it does not follow the french rule of AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée). Elite producers al all under the AOC system.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I never had port until I was introduced to it a few years ago by an English friend; now, its one my two or three favorite things to drink.

[axi]

Mixing grapes isn't a bad thing. It is the way rosy wine is made. Also, mixes are made for specific reasons, like raising the alcohol content, raising the sugar levels, etc. The key is balance.

[germanos]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride
How Is porto wine ? Ill buy a bottle of it for the first time tomorrow, I know it is famous

It's very strong/heavy and sweet.
Drink it as an aperetivo or dessert.

Don't plan on getting drunk on it, you'll regret it.

With all that: Port!

and a $17 Côte du Rhone,

[dannubis]

indeed... @ USD 17 Côte du Rhone