Free Republic

Up to a third of wines sold under France's regional appellation system might be from an entirely different region, according to a French consumers' group. The Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, or AOC, once a gold stamp of origin and quality, is fast turning into a national joke, UFC-Que Choisir said. It claimed this was due in large part to AOC award panels made up of local wine professionals with vested interests. Unscrupulous "judges" on local panels were accused of giving lesser wines the prestigious AOC label in the face of increasing competition from New World wines, whose world market share has...

NEARLY a billion bottles of French and Italian wine are to be turned into fuel and disinfectant because producers cannot find buyers.The EU agriculture commissioner yesterday announced plans for a radical shake-up of the wine market to prevent over-production. In the meantime, it was agreed that the EU will finance the conversion of millions of bottles of French and Italian wine into industrial alcohol. The growing popularity of wines from the New World has been blamed for the decline in the appetite for traditional European produce. "Europe is producing too much wine for which there is no market," the commissioner,...

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...