Over the past 2 decades, wine sales of the leading traditional wine producing countries\n(France, Italy and Spain) have faced increasing international competition. Sales have been\neroded by encroachment from other beverages, changing lifestyles, demography, increased\nproduction of other European producers and the economic crisis. Conversely, French wine\nexport has begun to increase with estimates for 2013 at 7,835 million Euros (OIV, 2014;\nXERFI 700, 2014). This is due to wine consumption increasing in the USA and China, two of\nthe main export markets for France (De La Chesnais, 2013; Julien, 2013).\nBusiness strategies appropriate of large scale wine producers from France, Italy and Spain,\nhave been much studied and written about. In sharp contrast, little has been said about the\nstrategies appropriate to smaller producers facing similar issues (Remaud et al., 2004; Coelho\n& Rastoin, 2006). This paper intends to contribute to the paucity of literature about small\nwine producersâ�� export strategies. It therefore analyses the current situation in the South West\nof France, taking as example small independent wineries in Juran�§on, a little known wine\nregion nestled at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains. This paper therefore examines small\nwineriesâ�� strategies for exporting to China and details an empirical study of independent wine\nproducers in Juran�§on and suggests areas for further research.\nThe main findings point to the lack of a clear export strategy for small wine producers such\nas the Juran�§on wine producers. Due to a lack of experience and knowledge of the Chinese\nmarket, most small wine producers did not see much potential and until recently were able to\nsell all of their production to the French market and did not need to investigate export\npossibilities. However, more recently, through an increasing demand for French AOC wine\nfrom the Chinese market, and other foreign markets, they have started to look at ways to\nproduce more to be able to satisfy some of the demand.\nAs their export intentions are still in their initial stages, there are many complexities that still need to be researched before a clear strategy can be defined. However, some small Juran�§on\nwineries are actively involved and are far ahead in the process of developing a strategy for\nexport.
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