French Wine Producers Want Unused Stocks Turned into Cooking Brandy

Food & Drink Weekly, Oct 1, 2001

French wine growers are calling for millions of liters of wine to be turned into methylated spirits or cooking brandy, blaming falling sales and a declining market share abroad for the unsold stock. A report by The Times newspaper claims that French growers want Paris and Brussels to purchase unsold stocks in $159 billion rescue package, where almost 10% of France's total wine production would end up as the type to be poured over Christmas puddings or as industrial alcohol.

Representatives were yesterday meeting with Jean Glavany, the French agriculture minister asking him to put Fr500 million of taxpayers' money into the scheme. According to The Times newspaper, European taxpayers would then be expected to meet the remaining Fr640 million that it would cost to buy 500 million hectolitres of unsold wine.

The European Union is reluctant to approve the plan after subsidizing the purchase of 80m liters of unsold wine last year. However, Brussels is considering a proposal whereby farmers are paid to pull up 60,000 hectares of vines, leaving the fields empty.

Wine production in France has increased from 55 million hectolitres in 1997 to 59 million hectolitres last year. But falling sales has resulted in almost 1.5 billion liters of wine being stocked in cooperative cellars and it is expected that millions more will be added after this year's harvest.