[Gromiaaborn]

"Bill O'Reilly reports on his "The O'Reilly Factor" TV show that his "Boycott France" bumper stickers at $2.50 apiece have sold in the tens of thousands and continue to fly out the door."

Somehow, I don't envision someone that plasters a "Boycott France" bumper sticker on his or her car as someone who dumped their French wine collection and cancelled their Paris vacation.

Nothing like supporting a supposed a boycott of France by buying a bumper sticker made (probably) in China.

As far as the wine boycotts, my guess is that French wine sales would have decreased anyway, though it's quite possible that a boycott could have sped up the decrease.

I'd be shocked if French wine was selling as well in Australia as it was even five years ago regardless of a boycott. Australia is producing some excellent wines now, and also produce a lot of inexpensive "every day" bottles. Ones that are quite tasty but sell for $6-8.

Canada is also producing some decent wine from the Niagara region. Chile and Argentina have been on the rise for years as producers of decent inexpensive wine.

The competition in the world market has risen dramatically, and France simply no longer has the edge it used to. In fact, it's "snobbery" about wine has cost it. People like to know what they are buying. That's not easy to figure out from a French wine label. The French wine industry wants everyone to treat wine the way the French do. But most wine drinkers simply want a decent bottle of wine at a fair price. That may not be the case at the high end of the market, but the high end is only a small part of the market.
And even at the high end, the French don't dominate as much as they did in the past.