Bordeaux Tasting
© AFP/File BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - Part of the problem lies with changing consumer trends, which have seen the French cut back on their wine drinking by half in 40 years.
Only 21 percent of French people aged 15 and over regularly drink wine, down from 24 percent in 2000 and 51 percent in 1980, the National Interprofessional Office of Wine (Onivins) said last month.
Many French consumers have also turned away from Bordeaux wines, seen as having hiked up their prices unreasonably during the 1990s.
But the industry has suffered most from a steady drop in French exports, increasingly outperformed on the international market by "New World" wineries in Australia, Chile, South Africa and the United States.
The vine-cloaked hills sweeping up from the Gironde estuary, on France's southwestern Atlantic coast, are home to the largest number of wines listed under the Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) classification system.
Bordeaux vineyard in Saint-Emilion
© AFP/File Derrick CeyracExports of all French wines were down in the first half of this year -- with the exception of Champagne -- but Bordeaux wines suffered the most, with a 11.4 percent drop in export volume and a 17.9 percent fall in export revenue.
"We are in the eye of the storm. Prices are low, the market is crowded, and sales are sluggish. The situation is serious," warned Jean-Claude Pichon, the regional head of the Credit Agricole bank.
Rising debt and overproduction are rife in the region, and the regional industry is growing ever more concentrated -- from 20,000 producers 20 years ago, the number has fallen to 10,000.
One major industry player, speaking under cover of anonymity, expected the number of winegrowers to fall again by half, to 5,000, in the next 10 years.
Many growers face crippling debt, having bought vineyards between 1997 and 2002, when prices were peaking at 45,000 euros per hectare. Average prices have since slumped to 20,000 euros per hectare.
"This year, for the first time, we are seeing winegrowers turn to the courts for a solution," according to Philippe Abadie, an official at the chamber of agriculture of the Gironde department surrounding Bordeaux.
Harvest near Bordeaux
© AFP/File Michel GangneUnder French law, companies can place themselves voluntarily under legal administration, in the hope of avoiding bankruptcy.
For these growers, "banks and suppliers can no longer help with their financial troubles. The courts can offer them a recovery plan over 10 or 15 years," Abadie said.
Even the most prestigious producers -- from Medoc to Bordeaux AOC -- are affected by the crisis, according to Abadie.
In the longer term, however, observers expect the industry will emerge stronger from this difficult spell.
"Will remain those who have managed to adapt, who can strike the right balance between competence, quality and price," according to Pichon, whose banks counts 500 to 600 producers suffering in varying degrees from the crisis.
"They need to be more thorough, more determined -- and they need to lower their yields," he said.
Elderly winegrowers are most likely to throw in the towel -- "people of a certain age, who lose hope and decide either to rip up their crop or hand over to someone else," according to Pichon.
More than one third of Bordeaux producers are aged over 55 -- and a quarter of these are over 60.
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