It would be a shame if France's status as the top wine producer would end. OK, I am being sarcastic. This is a good example of what happens when you refuse to change with the times. Tradition is good, but you can't let it kill you.

By EMMA VANDORE
AP Business Writer

PARIS (AP) _ France will lose its spot as the world's largest wine producer to Spain unless it can shake some of its outmoded traditions and boost sales to younger drinkers and consumers overseas, the country's independent wine producers say.
Screw tops, boxed wines, colorful easy-to-understand labels and sophisticated marketing - innovations pioneered by countries like Australia and South Africa - have helped global competitors elbow in on France's market share.

While Spain has adapted to the new trends, France hasn't and now looks set to fall behind, the Credoc research group says in a study done for the Vignerons Independants winemakers association.

According to current projections, France will trail Spain in 2015 as its wine production drops to 1.16 billion gallons from the 2000-04 annual average of 1.39 billion, the study said.

Shrinking domestic demand is only part of the problem.

To maintain France's position as world leader, the country's independent wine producers need to band together to promote their wines abroad, gain better access to supermarkets and other outlets, and reduce costs, the study said.

They also have to adapt to the tastes of new types of consumer - women, young people and people overseas - paying attention to flavors and packaging, it added.

In 2015, the U.S. will be the world's largest wine consumer, buying 871 million gallons, ahead of France's 686 million and Italy's 607 million, the study said. Britain is moving up the chart, with an expected consumption of 356 million gallons in 2015.

But France is failing to adapt to American and British taste buds, the study said.

Eric Rosaz, director of France's independent wine producers association, vowed to prevent France losing its crown.

"I am convinced that France has the arms to fight and keep her place as leader, but for this we need to get away from weight of history, the weight of our culture, and enter a new dynamic," he told The Associated Press.

Rosaz said French producers have made strides in making their wine more accessible and holding off inroads by emerging wine countries, but more needs to be done.

"We have the best wine, and we have the best image of wine in the world, but we have problems at the company level and in terms of dynamism," he said.

In 2007, France's wine and spirit industry exported nearly $15 billion worth abroad, a record and an increase of nearly 7 percent from the previous year, according to the French Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters.

But the good overall export performance masks a broader crisis. While Champagne and fine Bordeaux find overseas markets, lower-quality wines and lesser-known wine regions have struggled against new competitors, such as Australia and Chile.

Chronic overproduction has also hurt, forcing European producers who can't sell their wine profitably to distill billions of bottles of wine into pure alcohol for use in disinfectants, cleaning products or gasoline additives.

It's about time:

By John Gramlich

Stateline.org

Seventy-five years after the repeal of Prohibition, state lawmakers across the country are marking the anniversary by relaxing or eliminating some laws that have restricted alcohol sales since as long ago as the 1930s.

Colorado this week became the 35th state - and 13th since 2002 - to allow residents to buy alcohol on Sundays when a measure that won the approval of the General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in April formally took effect. The new law replaces a 1933 state statute forcing liquor stores to close on Sundays, and also allows Coloradans to buy normal-strength beer on Sundays. Residents previously could purchase only reduced-strength beer, with 3.2-percent alcohol or less.

In Idaho, lawmakers did away with another Prohibition-era law that prevented liquor sales on Election Day. The original measure, approved in 1939, was intended to prevent the trading of alcohol for votes, and its repeal means that, for the first time in generations, Idahoans can toast their candidates by buying spirits on the same day they vote for president this November.

In Virginia, meanwhile, lawmakers repealed an obscure state law that banned restaurants from mixing liquor with wine or beer. The statute, likely intended to prevent public drunkenness after Prohibition was repealed, had modern-day consequences: It meant that restaurants couldn't legally serve authentic, Spanish-style sangria - a mix of brandy, wine and triple-sec. As of this month, however, traditional sangria is again on the menu in the commonwealth.

Those and other recent revisions to alcohol laws, enacted by some of the 40 state legislatures that have wrapped up their work so far this year, come more than seven decades after the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1933, reauthorizing the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol nationwide. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment of 1919, when Congress and 36 states agreed to ban alcohol across the country after bowing to heavy pressure from temperance organizations.

Read the full story here.

The Italian government has agreed to guarantee the authenticity of Brunello wine, which will permit it to be exported to the United States. This became necessary because four major vintners are under investigation in Tuscany for possibly blending the wine with other grape varietal, which is a violation of Italian law.

According to a story being published in tomorrow's Chicago Tribune, Italy's Agricultural Ministry will send a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday, guaranteeing that bottles of wine labeled brunello are made entirely from Sangiovese grapes.

It is unusuall for the Italian government to issue such a guarantee because that task is usually left to the regional wine authority. This shows how serious the Italian government is taking the matter. Brunello, which comes from the Tuscan region, is considered one of Italy's premier wines. In fact, the Italian government has impounded at least 1 million bottles already.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Alcoholo and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau will not let the wine into the United States if the label is misleading. With Italy's struggling economy, the Italian government did not want to risk a U.S. ban on brunello. I expect Italian prosecutors are going to move fast to put an end to any vintners illegally blending their brunello.

Wine growers throw stones at riot police after a demonstration in Montpellier, southern France Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Wine growers demonstrate for a better income. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Those crazy French vintners. This is what socialism and an overreliance on government aid does to people. They don't know how to live when faced with obstacles:

Winemaker protests in France

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) -- Winemakers in southern France have burned two police cars and vandalized supermarkets during protests to demand government aid.

Vintners in France's Languedoc-Roussillon region have been protesting plummeting prices for their regional wines as well as rising fuel costs.

Top regional official Cyrille Schott says protesters broke windows at the courthouse in the city of Montpellier. In nearby Montagnac, protesters wielding baseball bats chased police from their vehicles and set the cars on fire.

Schott says protesters damaged four bank buildings.

At three regional supermarkets they sacked the wine aisles. Schott says two police were slightly injured in the protests Wednesday and early Thursday.

As the title indicates, this is going to be a blog about wine. And, maybe, I might talk about specialty beers as well.

I love wine, Chianti being one of my favorites.

If you are looking for a technical Web site about wine, this is not it. I will be delivering some news and some personal reviews of wines I drink.

This is a personal blog, so I don't expect to update too often, just when time permits and the mood strikes.

So have a look around and enjoy the new blog. Feel free to comment, as well. The same login should work for all my blogs.

Salute!