Classify this under “articles that need to be researched and written (preferably for Mises.org)”. In your local grocery store you will find precisely one French wine with a charming label and an understandable name. It is Red Bicyclette (and the coming site). It comes from a winery in the South that is wholly owned by Gallo. By being a private winery that accepts no government help, it can evade ridiculous French-government restrictions on labeling and irrigation that have doomed French wines in the US market. Experts say that it will soon become the #1 selling French wine. There is a powerful story here. (I would be pleased to be corrected if my take is wrong.)
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/2788/the-wine-that-will-save-france/
The Wine that Will Save France
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As a devotee of mises.org and a manager of a small wine and spirits shop in Minnesota, I thought I’d comment on the issue of the French wine Red Bicyclette by Gallo.
Considering the substantial investment and consequent excitement of the new label at Gallo, we have been hearing much about it as of late. Just last week I was speaking to our Gallo representative about Red Bicyclette, and about the recent acquisition by the E&J Gallo Company worldwide.
To my surprise, I found that Gallo doesn’t actually own everything outright when it comes to Red Bicyclette, but actually uses a more flexible system of contracts to acquire the fruit without having to be subject to the very stern French viticultural laws.
According to my rep, owning the actual properties in France would expose Gallo to all sorts of problems of French commercial/agricultural regulation. However, merely purchasing the wine by contract allows them to get around such regulations. (Laws which have been around since Napoleon arbitrarily placed them on winemakers so that he would know which wines were the ‘best’.)
Likewise, Gallo has better quality control over French suppliers due to such contracts because they are very strict, yet very lucrative for any French vineyard because of the volume. As anyone who has witnessed their operation in California can attest to, Gallo is state-of-the-art when it comes to quality control, and very exacting when it comes to harvest time, transport, and quality.
I certainly would not doubt that Red Bicyclette will be a major player in years to come. When Gallo gets behind their products, it’s a good bet that they will succeed. That has been our experience with most of their wines, and certainly with their E&J brandy line. They have been great products for us as a retailer.
Interestingly, part of the success of Australian wine is likewise a tale of regulation. Australian winemaking is a much less regulated affair. Though government intervention is prevalent down under, it tends to be focus more on government subsidies for research and technology. Because the Aussie viticulture laws are not stuck in the fusty old-world past like Europe, they have done much to innovate their production with technology which—as usual—increases quality while lowering costs to consumers.
Most of the big Aussie wines we buy here in America tend to be made-for-export labels. The Yellow Tale label is a wonderful example of this. These types of wines are often even bottled in the US, having been shipped by barrel from Australia.
I believe that this is a classic case of a country turning into a banana republic. Too tyrannical and socialist to allow its own citizens develop high-value-added products as dictated by the market, the country degenerates into a producer of whatever raw materials are favored by its particular geographical conditions.
Banana republics tend to be politically unstable due to the small number of people who are gainfully employed, and the large number of people who must somehow try to live off the small (and highly-variable) earnings of the commodity-based economy. And, they usually become a political dependent – if not an outright colony – of the country which is their main export market.
Ultimately France may become a dependent of the former East Bloc countries, as long as the latter can resist falling into the socialist quagmire of full EU membership.
“Classify this under “articles that need to be researched and written (preferably for Mises.org)”
I assume that this is a message for the regular columnists for mises.org? I do not believe there is a way for just anyone to submit an article.
Steven, of course there is a way for just anyone to submit an article. Write an article and send it to Jeff Tucker for consideration. If the article is good, he’ll use it.
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