November 8, 1995. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved

BEAUJOLAIS Ð UNDAUNTED BY THE BOYCOTT
By Nicholas Booth

LONDON, November 8, Graphic News- When the first bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau go on sale a minute after midnight tonight (THURSDAY NOV 16), importers are bracing themselves for a backlash against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. Wine and spirits are FranceÕs third largest export, and thus far, there has been minimal impact on exports. But Beaujolais is particularly vulnerable to boycotting because it is a perishable commodity which will require skillful marketing around the world.
    In Holland, some importers are planning to raise retail prices and devote part of their profit to Greenpeace. A Swedish hotel has already banned a French company from staging a Beaujolais promotional event, following several restaurateurs who publicly poured away the contents of bottles immediately after the first South Pacific test. Most seriously of all, Finnish authorities withdrew all French wine from sale for a few days in September after they received a written threat that there was cyanide contamination in many bottles.
    According to a Beaujolais spokesman, the Australasian market is almost negligible, but Japan certainly is not. Last year, Air France despatched six jumbo jets full of Beaujolais Ð 90,000 bottles per aircraft Ð from France to Japan and the U.S. This year, only five will be sent. Last year, Federal Express reserved two 747s and other jets to send some 225,000 bottles to Japan. Overall, export figures may be reduced by as much as 30 per cent this year.
    Last summerÕs extended heat wave is expected to have created a good vintage this year. ÔBeaujolais is very French,Õ says Bernard Georges, export manager of DuBoeuf Beaujolais, ÔIf they want to hurt us, they will do it through such a product.Õ The company, which exports one in every five bottles produced in the region, has already received cancellations of 44,000 cases.

/ENDS