Summary
A group of winemakers in France's Languedoc region have taken to calling themselves CRAV (Comité Régional d'Action Viticole -- roughly translated, the Regional Viticultural Action Committee), and are threatening violence if the French government doesn't offer them help. Lagging sales of French wines, as well as an overabundance (or glut) of grapes, has pushed prices down, and as a result, Languedoc winemakers are feeling the crunch of an industry that is suffering.
Newly elected French president Nikolas Sarkozy isn't much of a wine lover (unlike Jacques Chirac, his predecessor), and as a result the group can't expect much sympathy from higher-ups. CRAV has asked for higher tariffs on foreign wines, and has threatened physical violence on those who work for foreign producers. In a video released in May they declared that "blood would flow" if Sarkozy didn't come to their aid.Firefighters have contained raging fires in California's Santa Barbara County. The blaze has burned about 48 square miles in and around the Los Padres National Forest, and residents of Los Olivos were allowed to return to their homes early last week. It doesn't seem as though there were any injuries, and it's unclear whether any of the area's wineries were damaged. Much of the West Coast was suffering from the same intense heat wave that we felt here the following week.See the full content of this document
Extract
Vive La France!
French winemaker-activists dead serious about tariffs on foreign wines
uncorked / by Ben MacPhee-SigurdsonTHERE'S rarely a week that goes by without some sort of interesting news for wine lovers, so every once in a while I like to round...See the full content of this document
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