Chef Ducasse moves to Monaco
ULTimes. July 2, 2008
France has just lost one of its greatest chefs. Alain Ducasse, the holder of 14 Michelin stars and a worlwide restaurant and hotel empire, has given up his French citizenship and gone into tax exile across the border in Monaco where he owns the three-star Louix XV restaurant. Prince Albert II granted citizenship by  "sovereign order" to Ducasse, 51, whose interests turn over about 160 million euros a year. Ducasse's flight from France does not look good for President Sarkozy's "come home" appeal to his country's thousands of tax refugees.
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France boosts champagne production
NewYorkTimes. June 17, 2008
With global demand for sparkling wine soaring, putting pressure on limited supplies, the French authorities are opening what could be the largest wave of expansion of Champagne vineyards in nearly a century. Potentially, the expansion could increase annual production by 100 million bottles, to 430 million. A nearly eight-decade-old rule that delineates the official Champagne zone is about to be changed to include new territory, allowing farmers to sell grapes for Champagne with the French seal of approval, the “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée,” or A.O.C.
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French wine makers resurrect the lowly table wine
EarthTimes. June 17, 2008
The long-scorned table wines of France are becoming sexy at last. As the French government attempts to legislate the country's wine industry out of its crisis, a growing number of wine makers, frustrated by outmoded industry regulations, are using the lowly table wine to unleash their creativity and attract new customers. The results have been nothing less than sensational.
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French wine and camembert protections tightened
UKTelegraph. June 12, 2008
Restrictions were placed on who controlled the names Camembert cheese and Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine. Camembert producers and a government body agreed to revise criteria for the coveted appellation d'origine controlee (AOC). Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, from the southern Rhône valley, was also celebrating after a court ruled that neighbouring winegrowers cannot refer to the Pope on their bottles.
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Young France Isn't Drinking Wine
WineSpectator. June 12, 2008
French citizens remain the world's leading consumers of wine, drinking about 55 liters annually, according to a recent study carried out by the University of Montpellier. That's almost six cases a person. But that number has declined more than 50 percent since 1980, when the French drank an average of 120 liters. Roughly 50 percent of young people in France never drink wine.
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French government unveils sweeping changes to wine sector
Decanter. June 1, 2008
The French government unveiled its five-year wine industry modernisation plan, hoping to improve the country's competitiveness. The plan aims to reduce complex regulations preventing French winemakers from competing with New World producers. French wines will now fall into one of three categories, and will carry both the grape variety and the year on the label, and be made using many cheaper winemaking techniques already adopted by the New World, including the use of oak chips, the addition of tannins and sorbic acid as a preservative, and sweetening using concentrated grape juice must.
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Young French view wine as 'expensive and old fashioned'
Decanter. May 28, 2008
French students and young people are continuing to turn away from wine, according to a study released last week by American academic Dr Liz Thatch. The study contrasted young French people with the same 21-30 age group of drinkers (known as 'millennials') in America, who are increasing their wine consumption and see wine as sophisticated and modern. The French group found wine expensive, confusing, old fashioned, and had strong anti-alcohol feelings.
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High Bordeaux prices leaves sales moribund
Decanter. May 28, 2008
The Bordeaux 2007 en primeur campaign is looking increasingly moribund as prices are released at levels higher than justified by the vintage quality. Merchants noted that 2007 needed to be a bargain, and it's not a bargain by any stretch of the imagination.
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Climate change threatens French truffle
Reuters. May 19, 2008
The black truffle, one of the most exclusive and expensive delicacies on the planet, is under threat from climate change.
But prolonged drought in many of their prime growing regions in Europe and predictions about global warming suggest the future is about as black as the truffles themselves, to the despair of the growers. In France, this winter's harvest yielded just over 20 tonnes of the high quality black truffle, half what had been expected.
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France rejects GM food bill
France24. May 17, 2008
The French parliament rejected a Sarkozy-sponsored bill on genetically modified (GM) crops after hundreds of activists marched in Paris to protest against a text they said blurred the line between natural and GM foods. The bill outlined conditions for the cultivation of GM crops in France, Europe's largest grain producer and exporter, and a body to oversee GMO use. The rejection was a defeat for Sarkozy’s government. Opposition Socialists and the Greens, as well as environmental activists, welcomed the news. Polls show most French people oppose GM crops, which have uncertain health records and give monopoly control of grains markets to industrial giants like Monsanto.
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French baguette prices rise
UKGuardian. May 12, 2008
The baguette, a French staple that has become a symbol of soaring food costs, is now at a record high price. Overall in Paris, baguettes now cost between 5 and 8 percent more than last year, sparking outrage. French millers and bakers have been blaming each other for the rise in bread prices. Joseph Nicot, head of the French millers group, said flour prices have gained 20-25 percent in the last year. But since flour accounts for 15 percent of the baguette's total costs its rise should only have had a little impact on the baguette. "Bakers are taking flour prices as an excuse," he said.
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French chef fights obesity
UKTelegraph. May 12, 2008
French cordon bleu chef Dominique Valadier is leading a campaign to tackle childhood obesity in France, where 16 per cent of five to 11-year-olds are obese. Valadier, who worked in some of the Riviera's finest restaurants, now produces exquisite dishes at L'Emperi school, in the town of Salon-de-Provence, serving up to about 600 students daily with fine healthy fare like roast loin of pork and fish in white wine sauce. Health experts are hoping that Mr Valadier's work will be replicated across France.
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Tasting Highlights: Rosé
WineSpectator. May 12, 2008
By all accounts, American wine drinkers have fallen in love with rosé - sommeliers and retailers tell me they can barely keep it in stock; producers tell me they're shipping more than ever to the United States. From the heady, powerful style of Tavel, located in France's Rhône Valley, to versions from Spain's Rioja region, Washington state, California and more, rosé is now ubiquitous. Here's a selection of recent releases just in time for the start of spring.
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French Abatoirs Deemed Scandalous
PoutrySite. May 8, 2008
It has been reported that almost half of the slaughterhouses in France fail to conform to European standards of hygiene, as per a memorandum from the Directorate General of Food (DGAL). According to the document which French publication Le Point was able to access, almost half of the slaughterhouses for poultry and rabbits and 42 per cent for pig, cattle and calves are outlawed due to their unhygienic ways. The magazine goes on to say: "The situation in the slaughterhouses can sometimes be called apocalyptic."
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Watered-down EU wine reform ratified
Decanter. May 5, 2008
The European Council has finally approved watered-down wine reforms originally proposed two years ago. The original reform included controversial and wide-ranging grubbing-up plans as well as a cap on chaptalisation (adding sugar to unfermented grape must). New reforms include a voluntary three year scheme to uproot vines covering 175,000 hectares, less than half the 400,000 ha originally proposed; the phasing out of subsidies for crisis distillation and funding of member states to promote their wines outside the EU. Chaptalisation will no longer be banned after 20 member states lobbied to retain it. EU commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann said the reforms would improve quality of European wine.
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Parker slams Bordeaux 2007 with faint praise
Decanter. May 5, 2008
American wine critic Robert Parker has released his 2007 Bordeaux en primeur scores, and they aren't pretty. He has awarded only three wines up to 100 points - all of them white; among the reds, only four achieved up to a potential 95. Concluding that the vintage is not as poor as 1992, Parker calls it an 'improved, modern-day version of 1997'. The best he can say is that the top wines are 'flattering' and 'fruit-forward' wines - gluggable even as barrel samples - that most consumers will love, though they lack long-term ageing potential.
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French bureaucracy hampers food sanitation
BusinessWeek. May 5, 2008
The seven-year-old biotech company GeneSystems based near Rennes, in France's Brittany region, claims its new technology can slash the time needed to confirm the presence of E. coli and other bacteria in food, from a matter of days to just eight hours —fast enough to yank infected meat before it hits supermarket shelves. But GeneSystems has run into a wall of red tape and resistance to change among public-health authorities in Europe, especially in France, which mandates the use of Petri cultures, and refuses to accredit tests based on the rapid PCR system.
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