Discussing the state of natural wine with Burgenland vigneronnes Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselböck and Maria Koppitsch, Rundbar's Moritz Herzog and Dave Ferris, and Ruby Wine's Aran Healy.
The last comment is super believable. I moved to Lisbon 6 months ago, and it's amazing how credulously people have responded when I suggested drinking Spanish wines here. The big European wine countries stick to their own (Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, for example). It's only in the countries that produce much less volume (and have a less well-known reputation on the foreign market) such as any Balkan country, for example, that will drink wines from other countries -- that is, if they can afford them. For example, Bulgarians are much, much more likely to be open to drinking French wine, than vice versa.
So, France is not the only one like this for sure. Natural wines or conventional wines, doesn't matter. It is a general problem of European wine culture parochialism. But for a non-wine producing country (with a lot of money) like Sweden or Denmark, it is a different story entirely.
The last comment is super believable. I moved to Lisbon 6 months ago, and it's amazing how credulously people have responded when I suggested drinking Spanish wines here. The big European wine countries stick to their own (Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, for example). It's only in the countries that produce much less volume (and have a less well-known reputation on the foreign market) such as any Balkan country, for example, that will drink wines from other countries -- that is, if they can afford them. For example, Bulgarians are much, much more likely to be open to drinking French wine, than vice versa.
So, France is not the only one like this for sure. Natural wines or conventional wines, doesn't matter. It is a general problem of European wine culture parochialism. But for a non-wine producing country (with a lot of money) like Sweden or Denmark, it is a different story entirely.