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<p>Comment <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/about-comment.html" target="Content">About</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/alsace.html" target="Content">Alsace Excellence</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/award_for_vineyard.html" target="Content">Award for new Vineyard</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/hachette.html" target="Content">Awards for winedrive vineyards</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/changing_tastes.html" target="Content">Changing Tastes </a> <a href="public/buy_wine/buy_compare.html" target="Content">Great Value buying from vineyard </a> <a href="public/wine/bio_dynamic.html" target="Content">Organic Wine</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/bikerace.html" target="Content">Our man gets on his bike</a> <a href="french_wine_comment/comment/quality-or-value.html" target="Content">Quality or Value?</a></p>
<h1>The Great Taste Myth…</h1>
<p>If we believe everything we read, our tastes are changing, with today's consumer preferring wines from the New World. We think this is a myth because we don't believe tastes change without influence. </p>
<p>Just look at fashion, where 'taste' is led by the industry itself. We wear everything from designer clothes to trainers because we have been influenced to do so, either by carefully contrived marketing or because celebrities and personalities wear them. Quite simply, if the marketing people can persuade us that a particular colour is 'in' this season, then we all rush out and buy it.</p>
<p>Wine is no different. Yet there are those in France who believe the world will always buy its wine simply because of tradition and reputation. They have failed to recognise that the New World has advertised and marketed its way into our minds to the point where we are convinced that our tastes have moved across to the other side of the world. In reality, all they have done is simplify our thinking process to the point that many have become accustomed to buying wines that are made from a single grape such as Merlot, Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.</p>
<p>It is difficult to buy wine like this from France because the majority of French wines are made from blends of several grapes, each of which grows at the mercy of a variable climate. Generations of blending skill go into the creation of its wine, which is precisely why France offers such a huge variety of tastes. </p>
<p>But New World marketing has convinced much of the market that it wants the easy life and should feel more comfortable with familiarity. People have learned that their wine is easy to understand and tastes the same year after year, whereas a French wine made in 2002 will probably taste different from the same wine made in 2001.</p>
<p>In its panic to recover its lost market share, the French industry is already talking about 'dumbing down' to the New World standards. This would be a tragedy, because while we fully understand how the buying public can be influenced, we don't believe they are beyond comprehending French wines. By going for artificially enhanced but consistent wines, buyers are missing out on one of life's greatest taste adventures which has been giving pleasure for centuries. </p>
<p>So before you rush out and buy another case Merlot of Chardonnay with a snappy name and pretty label, take a look through our lists. You will find more than a thousand wines – more than sufficient to give you and your friends a lifetime of exciting, novel and satisfying taste experiences. And you will be helping preserve a tradition which been developed in Europe over generations.</p>
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