Wine, regulation and the value of competition......

From Instapundit.

This piece on the rise of the California wine industry is a textbook example of people, when unshackled by government regulation, can take simple assets and make them into something more valuable. In this case, California in the 1970's and 80's were able through innovation and experimentation, beat the French in producing interesting and great wines.

While the Americans were not shackled by regulation, the French are required by law through a raft of regulation to grow certain grapes, produce wines within pre-ordained formulas and even have government taste testers to determine quality. This 'old' way of doing things from certain perspectives may be OK for the French, however, it does not provide for changing tastes of customers or shifts on demand around the world.