Just a case of putting your money where your mouth is.

"They blame over-production, shrinking exports and a government campaign against alcohol abuse for what union leaders call a "crisis" in winemaking."

But they conveniently forgot to mention the growing boycott of their wine by many of us in the USA!!

Maybe, just maybe its because Americans aren't shelling out top dollar for the new Vichy Water.

I'm supposed to be a mythical creature, but I am a wine lover and consumer and I've changed my purchasing habits over the last four years. I don't feel that I've really lost out in quality either.

Depending on what you want to drink, not only are there great wines from CA (mostly french varietals) and NY (mostly german varietals), but from Austrailia and from Chile and from Italy.

Maybe, just maybe its because Americans aren't shelling out top dollar for the new Vichy Water.

I'm supposed to be a mythical creature, but I am a wine lover and consumer and I've changed my purchasing habits over the last four years. I don't feel that I've really lost out in quality either.

Depending on what you want to drink, not only are there great wines from CA (mostly french varietals) and NY (mostly german varietals), but from Austrailia and from Chile and from Italy.

If you guys really don't drink wine, you're not tasting your food.

I've grown rather fond of an Australian wine, Yellowtail Shiraz. I've heard good things about Polish wine, too.

Didn't we save the French wine industry a century or so ago by sending them grape vines after blight destroyed their vines?

Anon:

That must have been the inspiration for Casablanca.

Don't forget those Michigan wines!

Do you think a shrinking population might have something to do with it?

And don't forget the dirty little secret: most of France's fine vineyards perished in the root louse epidemic of 1880. And they were replentished from, wait for it, America! From the Red State of Missouri, no less! Viva Missouri wines! (in moderation, of course)

Steve Bragg
DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS

Yeah, all European and North American wines (that you'd care to drink -- no one drinks wine made out of Concord grapes) are European vines grafted onto North American rootstalks.

Only in Chile can you drink wine made from European rootstalks.

There are enormous health advantages to drinking large quantities of red wine. I highly recomend Austrailian Shiraz and California Cabernet. You cant go wrong. Avoid French wine it is over priced and the quality is very uneven.

I drink Chilean, Italian, Portuguese and Hungarian wines now. With French wine, you have to know what you're getting and know to avoid the over-commercialized crap, e.g. Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Beaujolais Nouveau, white Mouton Cadet. However, nothing beats a really good Gewurztraminer.

One would think that French economic dependence on luxury goods for which there are ready substitutes in the marketplace would compel them to be nicer to their biggest customer.

I second the vote for Michigan wines!

Robert:

"There are enormous health advantages to drinking large quantities of red wine"

And I thought real men like you were gone with the wind. Bless you.

Robert,

A good cheap Chilean Walnut Crest Merlot is a very pleasant wine for a cold evening.

Bart:

I prefer wines with more zing than merlot provides, thus Shiraz, Cabernet and Zinfandel. Merlot is for chicks.