One case in point is the Florida division of Publix, a 760-store supermarket chain, which canceled all French wine promotions in April, despite Lebret's personal appeal. (Such stores sell a lot of the lower-end Mouton Cadet line.) Lebret figures that there were at most half a dozen complaints beforehand.

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In addition, the Tan family is building luxury condominiums all over Taiwan and is importing huge volumes of French wine.

CNN: The 100-Day Itch

They've been making amazing spirits for 300 years... there's a certain attention to detail that the French have with all of their products, whether it's wine or spirits.

BBC: Vive la France in Los Angeles

But the aggressive pricing at the top end may have masked a marketing issue in the mainstream U.S. market: After all, Australian wines just recently surpassed French wines as America's favorite import after Italian (California wine dominates overall, with 67% of the market).

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