The urge to purge
What do you do if you have 250 million liters of extra wine lying around? Why burn it of course.
The wine cooperative organization CCVF and the FNSEA want to distill what they consider France’s excess wine and have requested €300m (US$390.8m) in public funds for it. While it is not unusual for such a prolific producer to siphon off a part of the national production, it is shocking that 200 million liters of that excess will be appellation (AOC) wines, about 8% of national AOC wine production. Usually that undignified fate is reserved for lowly table wines.
With 466 wine appellations right now in France, not only is it difficult for consumers to keep track of them but the AOC grade has clearly not saved the skin of many producers who make wine that has no commercial market. In a surprising development, this includes wine from Bordeaux.
The French regulatory body, INAO, has strict rules on what it takes to become an appellation. As they currently contemplate reform, considering what it takes to remove the appellation status if the terroir makes it commercially non-viable may be a logical next step.
