Since the 1976 Judgment of Paris put Napa Valley on par with French wine quality, U.S. winemaking has moved progressively upscale, from Sonoma County, the Central Coast, Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.
But the lesson of upscaling from France should be caution in forgetting entry-level consumers, according to Damien Wilson, Hamel Family Chair at Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute since 2015. His 20-year wine career includes working in the French wine sector for nine years, including a stint as director of Burgundy’s School of Wine and Spirits Business.
“We need to be very careful in going forward, but we don’t want to fall into the trap of what’s happened with the traditional [wine] producing countries, in focusing everything at the top end,” Wilson said.
A pervasive mindset in the French wine business is that wine should sell itself, and efforts at marketing signal a lack of quality. “France is stuck in a situation that it is so proud of the quality of the wine it doesn’t realize it is losing customers,” Wilson said. .