Nov. 28, 2006 - 11:28 PST

WHO'DA THUNK ?

I never dreamed that I would read an article like I saw in this morning's Eugene The Register Guard by Jenny Barchfield of The Associated Press, quoted here in full:

EUROPEAN VINTNERS TURNING FINE WINE INTO PURE ALCOHOL

The EU is paying troubled winemakers to distill their vintage stock for other uses

BELLEVILLE-SUR-SAONE, FRANCE -- "At some of France's most celebrated vineyards, vintage wine is being transformed nto alcohol for disinfectants or gasoline additives -- a hi-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 Euroepean 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 vintaage."

"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 -- about 100,000 acres of vines, or more than 10 percent 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 -- 740 million gallons in 2005 -- even the most virulent opponents acknowledge that 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, quaality wines also are boiled away in large quantites.

"So for the second autumn in a row, Phillippe Terrollion, director of the Beaujolais Distillery in central-eastern France, sent out a fleet of trucks to pick up an expected 2.3 million gallons of unbottled, unsold Beaujolais wine -- enough to fill about 125 swimming pools."

"For vintners, the decision to distill 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, Terrolion paid vintners the EU-fixed price of about $1.66 per gallon -- 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 United States. South Africa and elsewhere."

"New world imports now account for 70 percent 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 also are to blame. Wine consumption is down throughout the continent, with wine-drinking champions Italy and France leading the decline."

"In 1980, the French and the Italians each consumed about 1.3 billion gallons of wine a year, according to the European Commission. by 2005, yearly consumption had dipped to roughly 800 million gallons."

"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 Frnce. "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."

"Once a French dietary staple as fundamental as bread or cheese, wine is increasingly regarded as a luxury product. Balsdassini said. The French are drinking less, but better."

"The EU's wine overhaul still needs approval from memmber 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 products it 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 that 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."

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Seems like those famous last words have been said so many times, "In - - - - we used to think we were the biggest and best and no one could touch us." Much like the philosophy that has us in Iraq, it would seem.

So in our country we make corn squeezin's into motor fuel and in France it is from the grape that mileage doth traipse. All in all, it's alcohol that makes things spin - one way or another.

Somehow it is like taking the art of Europe and pushing it through carburetors, but over here, I wonder how many hungry people could be fed from the corn that goes into making automotive alcohol ?

The next new thing will probably make me say again, WHO'DA THUNK . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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