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France Mourns As It Destroys Fine Wine
The Sunday Times ^ | July 3, 2005 | Nicola Smith and Matthew Campbell

Posted on 07/02/2005 5:47:22 PM PDT by quidnunc

They used to uncork their best bottles for festivals on July 14, but French wine growers such as Bernard Farges have little to celebrate next week. Far from evoking the triumphant storming of the Bastille, the date makes him and other bordeaux vignerons queasy.

“I feel sick to the heart,” said Farges, from Mauriac. The source of his melancholy is a European Union-funded process in which some of the quality red wine he produces will be distilled into undrinkable ethanol for use as factory fuel. The deadline for participating in the scheme is Bastille Day, a cruel irony. Farges has already sent in his forms.

It may seem heinous to any enthusiastic bordeaux drinker, but the EU has pledged £100m under the common agricultural policy to turn 670m bottles of French and Spanish wine into industrial alcohol to help reduce a surplus caused by competition from the New World.

This is not the first year in which plonk has been sold to industrial distillers, but never before have quality wines protected by the appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) label been subjected to such indignity. Some 200m bottles that might have graced the dining table are destined to become factory chemicals this year.

The idea is to help to prop up a slumping market for French wine but the EU’s “crisis financing” of the process is being cited as an example of the profligacy of a system that Tony Blair wants to reform but which the French are fighting to keep.

Farges, 40, produces a “very drinkable” 350,000 litres of quality AOC-labelled bordeaux that is normally sold to restaurants and cafes. This year, however, some 20,000 litres of it — about 26,000 bottles — will go to the distillers.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
KEYWORDS: disinfectant; eu; eurofreude; europeanunion; france; frenchwine; turass; winewhiners
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1 posted on 07/02/2005 5:47:22 PM PDT by quidnunc
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To: quidnunc

Hehhehe....

I live in Temecula, Ca. and all I buy is the Local wine we produce right here in my little wine valley.

Wilson Creek Winery... mmmmmmmmmmmm

Screw France, they can piss all the wine they want, I hope their Grapes rot on the vines...


2 posted on 07/02/2005 5:49:57 PM PDT by Sonar5 (60+ Million have Spoken Clearly - "We Want Our Country Back")
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To: quidnunc

are we sure that these frogs couldnt SELL their slop due to the EMBARGO?


3 posted on 07/02/2005 5:50:01 PM PDT by Jazzman1
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To: quidnunc

Boycotts never work: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78921,00.html


4 posted on 07/02/2005 5:50:46 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." -- G.W. Bush, regarding Sen. Kerry's lack of vision)
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To: quidnunc
I wouldn't buy a bottle of French wine if it was the last wine on earth. They can stuff it where the sun don't shine!
5 posted on 07/02/2005 5:52:09 PM PDT by b4its2late (GITMO is way too nice of a place to house low life terrorists.)
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To: Sonar5

Here in my area, there are still mom & pop stores with signs in the window saying they don't stock French cheese, wines, or other products. It's been that way since shortly after Sept. 11th.


6 posted on 07/02/2005 5:52:54 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." -- G.W. Bush, regarding Sen. Kerry's lack of vision)
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To: b4its2late

Me too. The news media was more than happy to thumb their noses at 'Freedom Fries' and portray boycotters of French products as deranged rednecks. Who's laughing now?


7 posted on 07/02/2005 5:54:48 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." -- G.W. Bush, regarding Sen. Kerry's lack of vision)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
You're not kidding. The French are definitely crying.....
8 posted on 07/02/2005 5:55:37 PM PDT by b4its2late (GITMO is way too nice of a place to house low life terrorists.)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Who's laughing now?

I am, while I sip a nice Australian red. Good on ya!

9 posted on 07/02/2005 5:56:50 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("I am saying that the government's complicity is dishonest and disingenuous." ~NCSteve)
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To: quidnunc

Serves 'em right! Wonder if they'll ever get it figured out...it's not the taste it's the producers.


10 posted on 07/02/2005 5:57:47 PM PDT by TatieBug
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To: quidnunc

I can hear the 2 Senators from Massachusetts sobbing from here.


11 posted on 07/02/2005 6:00:50 PM PDT by digger48
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To: quidnunc

So much FRench wine, so few dirty socks!!


12 posted on 07/02/2005 6:00:51 PM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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To: quidnunc

I wonder also if the law says this wine ethanol cannot be used in war machines. Oh, that's right, they don't have any war machines.


13 posted on 07/02/2005 6:01:17 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Government is running amuck)
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To: quidnunc

14 posted on 07/02/2005 6:01:23 PM PDT by BulletBobCo
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To: quidnunc
Socialist is as socialist does.

(literally, the departments are divided into crus (growths) and then into communes.

15 posted on 07/02/2005 6:02:33 PM PDT by txhurl
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To: quidnunc

From vin ordinaire to nationale ordiaire in one easy step: the Chirac legacy.


16 posted on 07/02/2005 6:03:17 PM PDT by Socratic (Honor the Liberator - He toils for you.)
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To: quidnunc
“I feel sick to the heart,” said Farges, from Mauriac. The source of his melancholy is a European Union-funded process in which some of the quality red wine he produces will be distilled into undrinkable ethanol for use as factory fuel. The deadline for participating in the scheme is Bastille Day, a cruel irony. Farges has already sent in his forms."

Yet another Frenchman surrenders without a fight.

17 posted on 07/02/2005 6:06:44 PM PDT by yooper (If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there......)
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To: Tribune7

I'll keep drinking California and Australian wines.


18 posted on 07/02/2005 6:07:14 PM PDT by Temple Owl (19064)
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To: quidnunc
Anything bottled after April 1986 should be drained. Chornobyl fixed all that...

http://www.infoukes.com/history/chornobyl/index.html

19 posted on 07/02/2005 6:09:23 PM PDT by Libloather (I trust Hillary as far as I can throw her...)
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To: Tax-chick
TC, I've enjoyed the Aussie whites but have not ventured into the Aussie reds, how are they are what are some of your favorites.

PS - Ship the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys all the "two-buck Chuck" they can carry....bbblleeeehhhkkkk!

20 posted on 07/02/2005 6:09:57 PM PDT by IllumiNaughtyByNature (Your HONOR STUDENT is merely a pawn in my pugs plot for world domination. :o))
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