In Italy call that same crap "Grappa" and charge up the ying-yang for it.
Posted on 11/30/2006 8:08:16 PM PST by quantim
BELLEVILLE-SUR-SAONE, France (AP) - At some of France's most celebrated vineyards, vintage wine is being transformed into alcohol for disinfectants or gasoline additives - a high-tech process winemakers hope will help them stay afloat.
Chronic overproduction, dipping domestic consumption and fierce overseas competition have created a European wine crisis of 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.
The steaming grape juice that's left is hauled back to the vineyards, where it will be used to fertilize next year's vintage.
Skeptics say the measure, which cost EU taxpayers $190 million last year, is a quick fix that does not get at the root of the problem - Europe simply produces too much wine for too few consumers.
A contested new EU plan aims to downsize Europe's wine industry, shifting from distillation to ripping out huge swaths of vineyards - some 40,470 hectares of vines, or more than 10 per cent of Europe's total, over the next five years.
Across Spain, France and Italy, Europe's vintners are putting up a united front against the proposal. But as more wine is distilled each year - reaching 2.8 billion litres in 2005 - even the most virulent opponents acknowledge something has to be done.
"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 only for the cheapest table wines. Now, however, 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 trucks to pick up enough unbottled, unsold Beaujoulais wine to fill about 125 swimming pools.
"For vintners, the decision to distil is a hard one," said Terrollion. "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, Terrollion paid vintners the EU-fixed price of about $1.66 for every four litres - about one-fifth of the average price paid by wholesalers for bottled wine sold for consumption.
While European vintages languish on the shelf, consumers around the world are reaching for bottles from so-called New World producers in Chile, the U.S., South Africa and elsewhere.
New World imports now account for 70 per cent of wine sales in Ireland, for example, and Australia recently overtook France as Britain's main supplier.
"In France, we used to think we were the biggest and the best and no one could touch us," said Louis-Fabrice Latour, who heads the prestigious Louis Latour label in the Burgundy region. The feelings of superiority blinded vintners to the threat from foreign rivals, he said.
But overseas competition is not the only reason behind Europe's wine troubles. Changing continental drinking habits are also to blame. Wine consumption is down throughout the continent, with wine-drinking champions Italy and France leading the decline.
In the town of Beaune, in Burgundy, Jean-Pierre Charriot sat in a bar nursing an after-work drink. But instead of a chilled Chardonnay or robust Pinot Noir, both regional specialties, he was having a beer.
Charriot makes his living in the wine industry. A tour guide, he takes foreign tourists on visits to local vineyards and wineries.
Although wine pays the bills, Charriot said he doesn't drink much of the stuff.
"I drink beer pretty much every day, but wine is for special occasions," he said, adding that wine's high alcohol content makes it a tricky choice in today's drunk-driving-conscious France. "With wine, you can't drive home after a couple of drinks after work."
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 as a luxury product, Baldassini said. "The French are drinking less, but better."
The change is hurting middle-market regions like Beaujolais while favouring vineyards in places like Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy - the prestigious regions on which Europe is betting its winemaking future.
The EU's wine overhaul still needs approval from member governments and the European Parliament, and EU officials hope to have the new rules in place for the 2008 growing season.
The winemakers warn against tearing out vineyards, pointing to India and China, where an emerging middle class is beginning to acquire a 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," de Longevialle said.
Still, nearly everyone admits the status quo is not viable.
"It's clear we can't go on like this," said distillery director Terrollion. "But we can't just snuff out winemaking either - especially in a region like ours, where wine runs in our veins."
Don't worry, you're DRC is safe it just may be harder to get as less of little is imported.
Some math fun:
But as more wine is distilled each year - reaching 2.8 billion litres in 2005
That translates to some 739,681,743 gallons US, liquid or about 100,000,000 cubic feet.
Nice lake.
Easy, yeasts convert sugar into alcohol via fermentation and then a distillation process separates that same alcohol.
No Einstein. I don't understand why they don't distill the wine and make it into a more profitable product. I understand the fermentation/distilliation processes.
Vodka's traditionally potato likker. (hic!)
"Vodka's traditionally potato likker"
An urban legend. Vodka is typically made from grain. You can find some Eastern European countries that use potato, you can also find some vodkas made from grapes.
The notion that vodka is made from (only) potatoes is wrong.
I didn't think of that. The millions of turbaned goatherds flooding Western Europe are prohibited from drinking alcohol. That does put a dent in the market.
As someone who at one time loved French wine, I have to say that I wouldn't drink French wine if given to me for free. I also harangue my local wine shop for selling it. I don't know if it has done some good or because people prefer wines from other countries, but the shop's stock of the stuff has gone way down. This pleases me much more than any glass of French wine with my dinner ever did.
I was under the impression that White Lightning can be distilled from virtually anything, that its what you do with the stuff after you distill it that turns it into vodka, gin, whiskey, rye, etc.
Am I right (more or less)?
>>>I don't understand this. You can distill wine into brandy, or something that's becoming more popular, into vodka.
I agree. In addition, the Asians don't drink wine frequently but they do drink brandy.
It seems most Asians are allergic to alcoholic drinks or don't tolerate them well.
The solution to France's problem is simple: require all Muslim ceremonies to use wine. I no longer drink French wines and have a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Socialist Republic of California sitting by my keyboard right now. I used to drink Chilean wines until I read that they had the highest pesticide content.
I hope to start making some fruit wines for myself soon.
Yes, Einstein, what part of the title is confusing to you?
-ccm
In Italy call that same crap "Grappa" and charge up the ying-yang for it.
Bttt!
John Kerry knew, he spent his boyhood summers there.
Hey did you know John Kerry was in Viet Nam? He got a couple Purple Hearts there.
Who knew?
What makes the French believe for a second they can compete with amazing products coming from Australia and Chile or excellent vintages from California? Heck, I even adore Austrailian "Lindeman's" which is pretty cheap stuff, but an exceptionally palettable wine which will go with anything (at least their merlot.)
And I've said before, if there's a Chinese market to exploit, count on the Chinese to exploit it. The day after the first bottle of fine French spew lands in China, they will chemically break it down and produce a kool-aid based equivalent that will sell at 1/10 the price and taste better.
The French need to reconcile themselves with the fact that their arrogance helped to kill their market. They PO'd their customers in the US and now the free market has filled the void for people who no longer buy French. All those "wine protests" in the USA? That wasn't wine pouring, that was their industry's "blood" running down the drain. Those people found new brands and it's likely they enjoy them more than more expensive French brands. Those customers won't be returning, at least any time soon. Yet it's more than that...
Euro demographics are shifting tremendously as socialists slowly destroy European culture with uninhibited immigration policies permitting millions of non-Euros move in and not assimilate to Euro culture. The new folks don't drink French spew, they think it's filth. PC social laws have been implemented that further curtail wine consumption creating a group-think mentality againts the older culture of frequent consumption.
In short, socialist policies don't have room for wine, and the vintners are SOL if they think that's going to change any time soon. France had a nice run since we saved them in WWII. Too bad they didn't do anything with their last chance.
Guess they use their brains for other things, like kicking our @sses silly on trade agreements. : (
Now pass the bottle, please - lol!
White Lightening ia really nothing more than the first distillation of anything that has been fermented. Legit alky is normally made from grain, mashed and then fermented. It's the same process used to make beer. As a matter of fact, distillers refer to the fermented liquid as "beer" before it's distilled.
The popular handbooks for WL recipes usually use cane sugar since it's so simple to use (just open up a bag -- pour into water and add yeast) and readily available.
Ciroc Vodka (French) is made from grapes and CNN reports that the French, indeed, are distilling some of their grape runnings into vodka http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/20/grape.vodka/
I have the feeling this article is a bit of hooey. I also don't understand how they classify the alcohol as "industrial?" It's the same alcohol that could be used as vodka or further processed into brandy, cognac or even gin.
Grappa is made from the leftover grape skins and even seed, in other words, all the garbage that's left over after pressing the grape juice for fermentation into wine. They used to feed this stuff to pigs.
I've drank $80 a bottle grappa, and as I like to say, "Grappa is crappa." Benzine is smoother.
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