The most direct sign that French wines are losing out to Australian wines is the number of importers of various sizes that are divesting in French wines.From 2018 to 209, roughly 85 French wine specialized wine importers either exited the market or switched to something else during the period, as shown in the graph above (2478 v.s. 2393). Bottled French wine’s total import value as a result shrank from US$1.06 billion to US$684 million last year.In the first two months of 2020, the exit continued, with another 243 French bottled wine importers quitting the market.In contrast, number of Australian bottled wine importers surged by 196 from 2018 to 2300 in 2019, according to CAWS. Admittedly, virus outbreak also strained Australian wine importers, wiping out 130 companies, a more moderate drop compared with France’s 243.