New world winemakers have long revered French grapes – but now southern European varieties are making their mark
Whether it’s the Académie française taking its Canute-like stance against the waves of English words flowing into the French language, or chefs despairing at the prevalence of the “McDo” and the gastronomic mutant that is the French taco, there’s a widespread tendency in France to cast the French as minnows in the fight against globalisation.
The idea is that this is an essentially Anglo-American process, something which is done to, rather than by, the French, and that must be resisted at all costs. All of which is enough to raise a decidedly Gallic shrug among winemakers everywhere else in the world. When it comes to the modern history of wine, the French are very much the imperialists.