I am a French wine importer based in San Francisco. My partner, Bernard Bouchet, and I created International Vineyards five years ago. Our intention was to find small, authentic producers from France, and bring them to the test of the California palate. We currently import some 80 labels from roughly 20 producers. We consistently travel to France to find those little gems that will end up in one of the many restaurant wine lists or wine retailer shelves that the Bay Area has to offer. I also teach many French wine classes and seminars in San Francisco and beyond.

Since last summer, the bad economy has caused a toll on the food and wine business, and International Vineyards has suffered likewise. Even so, I believe that plenty of growth opportunities still exist. Let me tell you why.

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Californians are open-minded to whatever is good, interesting, and provides value. They are extremely curious. While French consumers are not very inclined to discovering new wines, and mostly stick to their favorites (that’s changing slightly with the newer generation), I’ve found that Californians are willing to take risks.

Bad economic times create a need for value choices, and French wines are extremely well priced. This is simply because the “prix a la propriete” (the price of the wine at the winery) is 3 or 4 times lower in France than in California. If you add all of the costs derived from importing the wine, then French wines will be a tough rival to their Californian counterparts. Here in San Francisco, you can find many extremely well-made French wines between 10 and 20 dollars, but you won’t find any quality Californian wines in that price range. Good Californian wines are priced at $20 and up.

Another opportunity for us is the style of French wines. They are lighter in style than their Californian counterparts, but also offer more complex, balanced, and subtle aromas and flavors. If French and Californians were producing the same styles, then the consumer would have no reason to give us a chance. Even though the average Californian palate has an affinity for sweet, intense flavors (and likewise with food), more and more consumers—as their palate develops and becomes more refined—move towards the old world, European style of winemaking. A perfect example is the consensus of local sommeliers, who claim that wine buyers in San Francisco have moved away from consuming wines that are high in alcohol, which has been a predominant trend in Californian wines. This is also an extremely compelling point in California, where being health conscious is a religion: less alcohol is better.

Finally, a huge hedge that we have in the Old world, and in France in particular, is the wide breadth of history and stories that are associated with the making of wine. Wine has been made in the Mediterranean region since the Greeks. Then the Romans came, and perfected the viticultural practices while they occupied the Gaule, which was the region of present day France. The wine that we have in France today is the result, the evolution of more than 2000 years of passion and dedication to the production of wine, as well as the struggles, diseases, and even wars that quite annihilated several wine-growing areas. And today, famous chateaux such as Petrus, Latour, and la Romanee Conti (the name dates back to the Roman times) are references around the world, not only because of the high quality of their wines, but also because of the multifaceted stories and traditions behind them. “Wine is art and culture, the essence of civilization.” (Robert Mondavi, a California wine icon).

Raphael Knapp, French wine importer and educator.