Tempest in a pot of Bordeaux

Even Bordeaux is affected by the crisis. Bordeaux is otherwise one of the few wine districts that from a sales perspective have been working quite well these last few years. But at the latest meeting at the CIVB (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux), the cooperation and promotion organisation of the Bordeaux producers, the debate was at times heated. The background is that sales are down 14%, exports are down 15% and new contracts are down with 29%. In spite of that the CIVB President Alain Vironneau maintained that, according to research, consumer demand is not down (the effect is supposedly due to big stockholders of Bordeaux wine emptying their cellars). Whatever the truth is the meeting was at times animated and some of the growers present claimed that the CIVB don’t do enough to improve the situation. Read more on Blog Sud Ouest. -- And watch our video interview with Alain Vironneau, the president of CIVB and Georges Haushalter, its vice-president , where they talk about the situation.