Top > Business > 2006 > November > 2006-11-01

Too Many Homes and Too Much Wine

Earlier this year, there was talk in America of there being too many homes for sale on the market, at prices too high, for buyers to deal with. More and more people, it seemed, were opting for apartments to rent instead of homes to buy. And as more and more people rented, still more put up their homes for sale only to be met with disappointment. Nowadays a similar topic is under discussion in France, only the issue isn?t too many homes on the market but rather too much wine being produced and sent overseas.

Too much wine on the market is a problem? One would otherwise think that this isn?t such a bad thing for wine drinkers, but for French owners of vineyards it is positively catastrophic. Competition between vineyards in Europe, California and yes, the Middle East (Israel) demonstrates that the world is no longer simply inclined to accept French predominance in the wine industry. This isn?t out of any malicious desire, but more simply a desire to show that good wine can come from elsewhere.

Whatever sort of wine you fancy, don?t be surprised in the coming future if the vintage you?re drinking comes less and less from Bordeaux and instead more and more from Napa Valley or even the Golan Heights. If you really stop and think about it, if the Syrians got their hands on the latter piece of land again, they could really make something of the vineyards there. That is, if they don?t use the Heights to fire on farms like they used to.