Thursday, July 05,

Europlonk Nouveau has Arrived -Are You Ready ??

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Europlonk Nouveau refers to a Plan by the European Union to shake up the European wine industry unveiled yesterday, that provides that a vintner, say, in the Czech Republic or Bulgaria will be able to mix his wine with that of a grower 2,000 km away in Portugal. The result will be cheap, perhaps quaffable. It will bear a new euro-label stipulating the grape variety and year.

 

Similarly, Wine grown in Italy, and pressed in Sweden could be sold as Chianti.

 

The EU Wine Commission claims that the new procedures and labeling, and the reducing the wine categories,is aimed at simplifying consumer information and making wine in the lower price categories more marketable. This seemed necessary since  the wine producers of Australia, New Zealand, California, South America and South Africa are making ever greater inroads into the low end European market.

While the forgoing will irritate French and Italians wine makers, Austrians and Germans will be upset since a ban is proposed on adding sugar when making wine, a common practice in Germany and Austria.

The EU spends 1.3bn a year on wine production. Hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies are to be scrapped to end the practice of paying wine makers to produce wine that no one buys and which is then turned into industrial spirit or road de-icer. However, the budget will stay the same, but be spent differently, with the emphasis shifting from subsidising vintners to promoting and marketing European wine

 

Grown in Italy, Pressed in Sweden, Sold as Chianti. Europlonk Nouveau has Arrived

 Commission to take on US and Australian producers   7 Traditionalists outraged at plans for blended wines

The London Guardian
Ian Traynor and David Gow in Brussels
Thursday July 5, 2007

For the purveyors of fine wines, the chateau proprietors of Bordeaux or the Barolo-imbibers of Chiantishire, things will never quite be the same. The bad news from Brussels yesterday may have left them grasping for a stiff drink.

But for the industrial-scale producers of Australian Chardonnay or Californian Zinfandel flooding British supermarket shelves and squeezing out the pricier French and Italian wines, the news from the European commission was just as sobering. A new era is dawning for the wine makers, traders, and drinkers of Europe. The age of Europlonk.

 

Under plans to shake up the European wine industry unveiled yesterday, a vintner, say, in the Czech Republic or Bulgaria will be able to mix his wine with that of a grower 2,000km away in Portugal. The result will be cheap, perhaps quaffable. It will bear a new euro-label stipulating the grape variety and year. And it might turn the tide of New World conquest of the Old World's supermarkets and off-licences.

"At the moment blending wines from EU countries is not possible," said Michael Mann, the commission's agriculture spokesman. "It would become possible under the proposals. At the low end of the market. We think that possibility should exist. You can call it European wine."

Mr Mann was speaking for Mariann Fischer-Boel, the agriculture commissioner, who disclosed her radical scheme yesterday in an effort to keep up with the changing habits of Europe's oenophiles.

But the classier makers of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja, or Chianti are outraged at the package of measures, warning that they will dumb down the wine market instead of encouraging purveyors to fight for wine lovers overseas.

Christian Paly, president of the French quality wine producers' confederation CNAOC, said the proposals would lead to the "banalisation" of wines such as claret, rioja and port. "We want the Europeans to reconquer world markets. They are growing and we want European quality wines to be able to take part in this conquest of markets. These proposals would destabilise the market," he said.

Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, whose family has been refining Sangiovese red near Ravenna for generations as well as making bubbly the traditional way in Lombardy, says the Europlonk idea is "not a very intelligent" way to market wine. "We don't think this is really necessary. There's no future in blending low-price wines and we've told the commission that," he said.

He added that new labelling aimed at simplifying consumer information - a move designed to boost marketability of European wines - means consumer confidence in the quality wine market could collapse. "You can take grapes grown in Chianti, press them in Stockholm and still call it Chianti. This is possible under these proposals. We can't accept that."

The EU spends 1.3bn a year on wine production. The budget will stay the same, but be spent differently, with the emphasis shifting from subsidising vintners to promoting and marketing European wine. Hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies are to be scrapped to end the practice of paying wine makers to produce wine that no one buys and which is then turned into industrial spirit or road de-icer.

"The proposals are to try to win back markets and to drain the famous wine lakes," said Mrs Fischer-Boel.

Wine producers, overwhelmingly those of France, Italy, and Spain, will also be paid to dig up 200,000 hectares of vineyards. The commission sees the measures as liberalising in a global industry where the wine producers of Australia, New Zealand, California, South America and South Africa are making ever greater inroads into the European market.

"If we sit on our hands and do nothing, the sector will really face difficulties. We have been losing market share in other parts of the world," said Mrs Fischer-Boel, a Danish farmer whose husband draws tens of thousands of euros a year in EU farming subsidies. "The reforms are crucial and desperately needed."

The Europlonk provisions are geared to the bottom end of the wine market, in order, says the commission, "to counterbalance aggressive marketing for these wines developed by third countries."

If French and Italians wine makers are spitting into their goblets, Austrians and Germans are likely to choke on their riesling when the commission proposals come before the European parliament and EU governments. Mrs Fischer-Boel is also calling for a ban on adding sugar when making wine, a common practice in Germany and Austria.

Backstory Europe's wine industry

Europe is the world's biggest producer, consumer, exporter and importer of wine, with net exports worth 3bn in 2006. Global consumption last year was an estimated 24bn litres, with the EU accounting for 57% of the market.

New world producers have increased their exports to the EU by 54% over the past six years. One significant difference between Old and New world production is the average size of vineyards. There are 1.6m EU vineyards which cover on average two hectares compared to 50 hectares in Australia. The EU proposals for Europlonk should mean that big Australian-style winemakers start cropping up in Europe.

Britain is the world's leading importer of wine in a market worth 16bn a year. The UK imports an average 3.3bn of wine a year.

 

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