Dr Vino's wine blog

What would you do if you had too much wine?

a) drink it
b) burn it
c) make a lake and swim in it

If you answered A, you’re the dream consumer for wine producers all over the world. If you answered B, then you think like a European Union official. Or at least the old school EU official.

Mariann Fischer Boel, the current Agricultural Commissioner, hinted at significant reforms of EU wine policy, which could include removing EU funds for distillation, yesterday at a meeting of EU farm ministers in Krems, Austria.

“I want to make a bold reform because just changing minor things will not bring anything,” the Financial Times reports her saying.

Her ideas will be unveiled on June 22. One idea in play to reduce the surplus is to uproot as many as 400,000 hectares (964,000 acres) out of a total 3.2 million in the EU. She may also propose ending the “crisis” distillation subsidy, which guarantees a minimum price for producers of the worst wine and costs the EU 500 million euros ($643 million). This bulk wine is distilled into a fuel additive and industrial alcohol.

The reform proposal will no doubt be controversial if indeed Commissioner Fischer Boel puts these on the table. She thinks it could be even more difficult than the reforms of sugar policy last year. But without the external influence WTO pushing this wine reform, as it did the sugar talks, the changes may not be as hard fought nor as far-reaching. Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, who together make 80 percent of the EU’s wine have already announced their opposition to cutting the distillation subsidy entirely.

The Commissioner has her work cut out for her. She may need a strong drink–perhaps Tait’s “Ball Buster” from the Barossa Valley weighing in at 15.6 percent alcohol?!?

tags: wine | EU | wine policy