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
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
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
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
For
the purveyors of fine wines, the chateau proprietors of
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
Under plans to shake up the European wine industry
unveiled yesterday, a vintner, say, in the
"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
But the classier
makers of
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
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
"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
Backstory Europe's wine industry
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
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