Abstract
In the past few years, there has been a new phenomenon known as the 'French Wine Crisis'. This industry of French wine previously known as unique and untouchable is now confronted by an international competition that has been able to adapt its products and features for the wine consumers and their habits. In that context, while the total wine consumption in the world is increasing, sales of French wines and those of the Old Continent in general, are decreasing. This fact can be verified in the French domestic market and even worse, in the historical markets such as Asia, the Americas, and even Europe which are also suffering. The prestige of French wines and their qualities are not sufficient for this market anymore: There is an urgent need for change! As a result, an analysis is needed to understand the French position in the world today and a possible evolution in the French wine sector, so as to know and underline the reasons of these problems.
The main reason to explain this crisis simply is that a new harsh world of competition has evolved. Indeed, these 'powerful' competitors to France‟s wine industry knew how to push their strengths using 'competitive and attractive' wines which charmed consumers and mainly irregular consumers. Of course, this does not concern essentially premium wines (their historical image is very powerful and receives a lot of media coverage due to the 'Union des Grands Crus'), but mainly all the other kinds of wines. However, even if premium French wines are still well positioned all over the world including France, it is loosing market shares against other wines from the 'world' Super Toscany wines (Sassicaia, Ornelaia, Solaia...),wine from Spain (Gaja...) and even wines from the new world such as Australia (Grange de Penfolds) and USA (Screaming Eagle, Ridge, Montelena, Opus One...).
All new wines produced by nations that are now beginning their push into the wine industry, even the smallest ones, allocate an important part of their budgets on marketing and communication. The aim is so to attract consumers with every tool possible (labels, displays, shape of the bottles...), which is not always a preoccupation for the French. Moreover, consumer tastes have changed and for most people, a wine made by a single grape variety is preferable. Thus, foreign wines (mainly those from Australia, Chili, Argentina...) have, nowadays, a real success when compared to the detriment of the French wines. They simplified offers due to branding and label simplicity allowed everybody to have an access to the wine market. Even in France, foreign wines on the shelves are progressively taking more space.
As these wines are often sold at competitive prices, it can be easily understood what is happening and the unease created in the minds in the professional wine world. For a long time, French producers never thought that marketing would be helpful to sell abroad and compete against other wines. Now, the French are making up for lost time and French producers are adapting their production techniques to the new kinds of demands without forgetting their roots: the development of strong brands along with new labels which are easier to identify. Although quality is essential, it is no longer sufficient: the French have had to develop 'savoir vendre' as the simple 'savoir produire'. The wine world is in a transformation phase and wine marketing is associated to a 'branding' which seems to be the solution to get out of this crisis and to once again find a hegemonic position.
In effect, a new question is being asked: is France falling behind in this globalization of wine? We will focus our analysis in order to understand the position of France and its evolution in the wine sector. We will try to know the causes of stagnation in the French wine industry, as well as in the world, and the origin of these causes. We will then try to understand how the historical country of wine trade has lost its size. The purpose of the following study will be to raise questions, such as, which actors in the market could recover? What strategic actions must Bordeaux, and more generally, French producers take to stay leaders in the global wine industry? Which new strategies do we have to develop and implement in the next few years? Of course, all the actors in the market have their own points of views concerning this question, and so many possible solutions are evoked! Many hope for improvements in order to begin the revival, however it is necessary to make a distinction between possible and applicable solutions and the crazy ones. Moreover, the large variety of French wines do not have all the generalizations made. It is for example, much more difficult to change the packaging of a high-class wine such as those from Bordeaux than those of a local wine producer! Do not forget that small local wines inevitably do not have the required funds to invest, and thus, are not able to change everything overnight! Because of the
impact of such wines it is now the entire French wine industry which seems to be confronted by a delicate situation!
