There is a shortage of cheap French wine, which means that some supermarket chains in France are importing Spanish table wine. This has led to criminal actions by some militant winemakers in the Languedoc. But it has also led to more serious measures.
The producers’ association in Languedoc, the CIVL, has decided to raise the membership fees to be able to work actively to defend the Languedoc wines in the supermarkets. Admittedly, even the cheapest French wines will never be as cheap as the Spanish, but that might be just as well. Instead the marketing efforts will have to focus on origin and on quality.
Andreas Larsson, the Swede who was named “the world’s best sommelier” in 2007, was recently in the Languedoc and tasted IGP wines. At first he was reluctant to come but then he was amazed by the quality. This strengthened the confidence of the Languedoc producers.
So Spaniards beware, the war of the supermarket shelves is about to start. At least this is better than emptying Spanish wine trucks at night. And more along the lines of what these good wines deserve.
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