" — 85% of consumers are more likely to buy wine when they have been provided with clear information about it, either on the bottle or on the shelf.

— Almost one-quarter of consumers are seduced by imagery and make their purchase decision according to label design.

— 63% of consumers do not care what country the wine they choose originates from.

— Over one-third of consumers polled feel confused about which type of wine is best to buy. " (Research conducted in UK by Taylor Nelson Sofres.)

There are several factors that can explain France's failure to react to the changing market. First, France and the New World have different approaches to wine. "With the New World coming on the scene, there has been a shift within the industry from supply-based to demand-based marketing," said Franck Crouzet, from French drinks company, Castel Groupe. "These [New World] producers are definitely focused on what the consumers want, and use the most developed marketing techniques to achieve their goal."

Second, France has over 750 wine operators, many of which have limited funds, or are family run and continue to do business in the same way as they have for generations. Consequently, all too often minimum research or money is devoted to examining the changing market. In the New World, however, there are only a handful of operators -- generally large companies with substantial capital -- which dominate the market. In South Africa, for example, one company is responsible for distributing eighty percent of the country's entire wine production, while in Australia four companies distribute all of the country’s wines.

Then there is France's complicated wine classification system. The system of "appellations" for example, which includes over four hundred different categories, was created to bring out the individual characteristics of each region. But hundreds of different names for wines can become confusing to foreign consumers. "Everyone wants their village to have an 'appellation', and thinks that their micro climate is different from everyone else's," said Joëlle Brouard, head of the International Marketing for Wine and Spirits masters program at Dijon Business school in central France.

Wine drinkers may better gain their bearings with a brand name they recognize, and a type of grape they can identify, but with French wines one can choose between a Brouilly and a Saint-Amour, which are both Beaujolais wines from the same region and made from the one grape variety, Gamay. This intricate system results in incomprehensible labeling, especially for the consumer abroad.

Emilie Boyer King is a freelance journalist specializing in French topics for major dailies and magazines around the world. She lives in Paris where she previously worked for BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News and the International Herald Tribune.