Posted on 07/04/2007 10:18:33 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin2
BRUSSELS, July 3 — Efforts to shore up the European wine industry by tearing out thousands of acres of vineyards and scrapping some subsidies have set the stage for a fierce debate Wednesday as Europeans contemplate the cost of their love affair with the grape.
Vigorous competition from New World producers and complex regulations in Europe have helped create a vast amount of surplus wine, leading also to problems of quality and to increased spending to ease the surplus. To address those problems, the executive arm of the European Union has proposed overhauling the industry by reducing production, cutting subsidies and providing incentives to efficient winemakers.
But winemaking is regarded as part of national cultures in many of the bloc’s 27 members, and efforts to reduce the size of the industry have touched raw nerves like few other European proposals.
* * *
So members of the executive body, the European Commission, are preparing to defend the interests of their own countries’ winemakers and grape growers at a meeting Wednesday that will consider a crucial overhaul proposal for the industry.
The commission has already scaled down its proposal to cut back the wine industry since it offered its first plan just over a year ago. Originally, it envisioned ripping out 400,000 hectares, or 988,000 acres, of vineyards, a figure it has now halved, to 200,000.
The plan also proposes to scrap subsidies for distilling unsold wine into industrial alcohol, one of the main ways it has suggested for absorbing excess European production.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Apparantly this sentence makes sense to the people who work at the New York Times. LOL.
The proosal would be the definition of “half measure”
Why is French wine so ridiculously over-priced, if the country is drowning in excess wine production?
Must be the magic of socialism at work here.
They still think they have the rep. They don’t, but apparently that memo was in English and they refused to read it.
why buy french wine???
2 buck chuck just won another wine tasting award!!!!
God, europe is such a waste of earth
i’ll lend a hand by taking care of the surplus eiswein for germany ;)
How does this plan work, anyway? If you have 1 000 acres in grapes, do they just send you a notice, that you must plow it under?
Is one reimbursed for the loss of capitol?
That is a lot of wealth, to plow under.
If you live near a Trader Joe's.
By doubling the consumption in Ukraine and Russia from 1 to 2 liters per capita (still very low by European standards), the Wine glut in the West would disappear.
The Russian are getting away from the hard liquor. Vodka sale have been falling, while beer sales had been increasing at a rate of 30% annually in the first half of this decade.
Russia and Ukraine do have a wine industry, but it is not of very high caliber, and can only satisfy 30% of current demand.
Why do you think it is overpriced? Granted, with the decline of the dollar, ALL foreign wines and spirits increased in price. But, in a given quality range, they seem to be cheaper than Californian.
French wine is very expensive in NY, compared to excellent quality Californias. Maybe its because of the particular selection where I shop, or that the euro is $1.40.
make mine virginia wine!
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