A new classification of Bordeaux wines outperformed the region as a whole in 2009 sales, a wine producers' association said on Wednesday.
The so-called "appellations" of Blaye, Cadillac, Castillon and Francs decided in 2004 to join together under the Cotes de Bordeaux label to improve performance in the international market by playing on the famous Bordeaux name more clearly.
In 2009, the first year of sales under the new label, 46 million bottles of Cotes de Bordeaux were marketed, the producers' association, the Union des Cotes de Bordeaux, said.
Sales fell by seven percent on the previous year, but the label did better than the nine percent fall reported by the Bordeaux region as a whole.
Seven million bottles were sold on the export market, a fall of nine percent compared to a 14 percent drop for all Bordeaux wines.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
