Posted on 11/27/2006 11:34:11 PM PST by MadIvan
MORE than eight million litres of this season's production of Beaujolais wine is being turned into near-pure alcohol for use in disinfectants, cleaning products or fuel additives, as French vineyards face up to a massive overproduction crisis.
A chronic wine glut, falling domestic consumption and fierce overseas competition have converged to create a wine crisis on an unprecedented scale. With "lakes" of unsold wine threatening to undermine prices, the European Union has resorted to paying vintners to destroy some of their stock each year, distilling billions of bottles of perfectly drinkable wine into pure alcohol.
Sceptics say the measure, which cost EU taxpayers 150 million (£100 million) last year alone, is merely a quick fix that does not get to the root of the problem - which is that Europe simply produces too much wine for too few consumers.
A new plan aims to fix at least the production side by downsizing Europe's wine industry by ripping out huge swaths of vineyards. Some 100,000 acres of vines, more than 10 per cent of Europe's total, could be lost over the next five years across Spain, France and Italy.
But as more wine is distilled each year - reaching 2.8 billion litres in 2005 - even the most virulent opponents of the EU plan acknowledge that something has got to give. "For years, we shrugged the crisis off as a temporary downturn," said Gilles de Longevialle, who heads a group representing the vintners of Beaujolais. "But we're beginning to see it's here to stay."
Until last year, so-called "crisis distillations" were considered only for the cheapest table wines. Now, quality wines are also boiled away in large quantities.
So for the second autumn in a row, Philippe Terrollion, director of the Beaujolais Distillery in central-eastern France, sent out a fleet of lorries to pick up an expected 8.5 million litres of unbottled, unsold Beaujolais. That's enough to fill about 125 swimming pools.
"For vintners, the decision to distil is a hard one," Mr Terrollion said. "But in the end, they have to do it to get rid of the old stuff to make room for the new."
With funds from the EU and local authorities, Mr Terrollion paid vintners the EU-fixed price of about 35 cents (24p) per litre - about one-fifth of the average price paid by wholesalers for bottled wine sold for consumption.
The problem is, the wine just doesn't sell. European vintages are languishing on the shelf as consumers around the globe reach for bottles from New World producers in the likes of Chile, Australia and South Africa. Louis-Fabrice Latour, who heads the Louis Latour label in Burgundy, admitted a feeling of superiority had made them slow to react. "In France, we used to think we were the biggest and best and no-one could touch us," he said.
The wine-makers warn against tearing out vineyards, saying that would effectively tie their hands and prevent them from adapting to a changing world market. They point to India and China - where an emerging middle-class is beginning to acquire taste for wine. "When the Chinese really get into wine, demand for our product is going to explode to the point where if we cut back today, we might not be able to fill it," Mr de Longevialle said.
But with distilleries working overtime, nearly everyone admits the status quo is not viable. "It's clear we can't go on like this," Mr Terrollion said. "But we can't just snuff out wine-making, especially in a region like ours. Wine runs in our veins."
• WINE consumption is down across Europe, with Italy and France leading the decline.
In 1980, the French and the Italians each consumed about 5 billion litres of wine a year, according to the European Commission. By 2005, yearly consumption in both countries had dipped to roughly 3 billion litres.
Many French vintners blame tougher laws aimed at curbing drinking and driving for the country's precipitous decline in wine consumption. In 1960, the average Frenchman drank 3.1 bottles of wine per week. Today, the average intake is 1.4 bottles per week and falling, according to Michel Baldassini, who heads the main Burgundy wine growers' association.
Once a French dietary staple as fundamental as bread or cheese, wine is increasingly regarded, and treated, as a luxury product, Mr Baldassini said.
The change is hurting middle market regions like Beaujolais while favouring the vineyards of Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy - the prestigious regions on which Europe is betting its winemaking future.
Where'd you get the 10% figure? I would think it would be higher than that by a country mile - more like 60%.
That's because they're not arrogant.
French luxury goods have become hard to find, not that I'm looking. I wouldn't buy anything from France, nor apparently are very many others buying anything from France. French perfume and cheese are almost non-existent. American retailers aren't going to stock stuff that the customer won't buy.
So long, froggies! :>
>>I wonder if the American boycott has something to do with this as well?
I wandered through Costco yesterday, and they had some really inexpensive French wines, much cheaper than I remember them ever being.
I didn't buy any.
Then they need to quit electing anti-American hatemongering snobs like Jacqie boy and Dominique.
Yes, and the Aussies as well.
So most of ant-French sentiment are from Americans who would never drink wine that much in the first place.
I believe you are correct BUt if you look at Bahrain you will find the hypocracy of the Muslims. They go there and the ladies immediately take off their tents when they get off planes exposing miniskirts and they gamble and dance at nightclube AND they drink.
Soot of like the decadent west.
Marketing along with high prices hurt.
I also had a service company that delt with grocery stores and would ask wine merchants if they'd noticed a turndown in sales of french wines and to a one they all said definately after 9-11 and the Iraq invasion. To a one they all said quite a large percentage drop.
It's really just a matter of boredom with the French product. There's just nothing new in French wines. All the fun stuff is happening in Australia / New Zealand, South America, Africa, Spain, even still in California and the Pacific Northwest. Why buy a cheap, bland Beaujolais when you can buy a dozen different wines and unlimited numbers of blends from elsewhere?
Mooslims don't drink wine?
That and this was a big part:
Louis-Fabrice Latour, who heads the Louis Latour label in Burgundy, admitted a feeling of superiority had made them slow to react. "In France, we used to think we were the biggest and best and no-one could touch us," he said.
The one thing French wine used to have over other bottles was mystique; there was a whole mythology and romanticism practically revolving around French wine.
How does a product get mystique and how does a product get mystique back once lost?
What the American boycott did was cause a large number of people in a short period of time to "look behind the curtain." When they did so and found that French wine, although usually quite good, was no more mysterious or romantic than wine from Chile, Australia and so on, the bubble burst and it's impossible to put it back together again.
In other words, once French wine lost that emotional connection with consumers (for lack of a better way to explain it), it was just another bottle among many to be chosen.
Stupid. Stop distilling perfectly good wine, and ship it (C.O.D) to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port instead. That'll turn the situation around right quick!
Yep, we too started boycotting then and it just became a way of life.
I've had many fine camemberts and bries since then that were not French.
Maybe there are more Muslims in europe than they thought. They, after all, don't drink alcohol.
I agree with you, but regular people always take the consequences of the actions of their governments.
Perhaps the growing French Muslim population (all of Europe for that matter) might be a new market? Oops. They don't drink!
I noticed that shortly after the boycott even Trader Joe's suddenly started loading up on New World vintages and foregoing the French. Haven't checked lately, though. But it was quite obvious at the time that they knew where consumers were going with this.
Obviously they are drinking more Coca Cola....dang the Americans.
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