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.
Can't agree with you on that one! Many people in the south drink wine and serve multiple wines at casual gatherings.
Europe's indigenous wine-drinking populations are on the wane, too. The burgeoning Muslim population isn't really the best demographic for wine sales.
Exactly: Muslims drink as much as anybody else, just not usually in public.
Les Sour Grapes...
Unless I was in France I wouldn't buy French bread either. True french bread has NO oil and must be eaten within about 12 hours of when it is made or you could use it for stick ball. It also takes two days to make properly.
The name French fries comes from the 'cut' of the potato and not the country. It's actually a thicker form of the julienne cut. IIRC - they were first made in Italy.
BTW - love the rant
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Regards, Ivan
Then, I saw your comment. LOL!
Actually, they don't. In western countries they're not teetotalers (especially the younger set). But as a group they do not buy or drink as much alcohol as non-Muslims.
Not even close.
Drinkers tend to think all non-drinkers drink "in private." That's not an accurate judgment.
We have boycotted anything French for the last 3 years. Don't miss any of it. Especially their crappy wine (whine?).
The solution to what is basically a mental problem is pretty obvious. The Euros need to convince the large Islamic population to take up wine drinking.
I really don't go out of my way to avoid things French...happily it just seems to work out that way
They better not hold their breath. Their Beaujolais Nouveau marketing splash in Japan this year was a complete flop from what I could gather speaking with Japanese friends while I was in Japan. The marketing push was non-existent in China, even in the four-star hotels and five-star restaurants I went to in cosmopolitan Shanghai.
When the most Westernized portions of Japan and China turn up their noses at Beaujolais Nouveau, it is pure delusion to think these markets will save the French wine producers in general, and Beaujolais Nouveau in particular (the one cited in the article). In China and Japan, beer is what the vast majority of restaurant goers drink, with various domestically-produced cheap wines (think stuff like rice and plum wines selling for $8 USD per 750 ml) coming in second place, and anything over $10 USD per 750 ml simply reserved for special occassions.
I think wouldntbprudent's observation was very perceptive; French producers didn't perform their market research diligently enough. It is true that there are people who can distinguish a qualitative difference between wines produced in France and other nations. Furthermore, it is true that there are such people who prefer French wine at almost any premium markup. Those people are not who pay for the majority of the French wine industry's output. Those people might be influencers, but the crucial marketing insight the industry missed is that those influencers by and large are listened to after a decision is made to drink French wine, not before a decision is made to drink wine at all. Yet it is these same influencers who the industry spends an inordinate amount of energy and resources courting.
My guess is the French wine industry can rebound if they replace the mystique that only French wine is worth the experience of wine with another mystique that recognizes the vast majority of their output is bought by people who want to have a good time, but not necessarily a good time that revolves solely around the wine.
Of course, that's not French either.
I've developed a tasted for North Carolina wines, too, particularly Duplin winery's revival of the last-century muscadine and scuppernong styles...these are made from grape stocks (Vitis rotundifolia) native to the carolinas, and have a distinctive flavor.
I suspect if I were restricted only to the wines made in my own state, I would not suffer overmuch. Then again, I'm just a journeyman drinker of wines, not an oenophile.
I know that in our home, we only buy wines/spirits from willing members of the Coalition, especially Italy and Australia.
I don't how much people really "boycott" French wines, but I purchase a fair amount of wine, and I hardly ever wander over to the French aisle. I'm in the reserves and the PX has this awesome deal on a California wine called Searidge for $3.95 a bottle. My palate tells me its in the 10-12 dollar range.
If the French made a good one of those I might consider buying one for $20 or $30 a bottle.
The best Zenfendel Port I ever had was from a California winery, Ledson.
Baptists don't drink either.
Q: What's the primary difference between a Baptist and a Methodist?
A: The Methodist will talk to you in a liquor store.
Don't forget the Virginia wines!
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