"Glug, glug - a billion bottles of wine going to waste"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...215975,00.html

When I get to have the reasonalby priced wines I had in France, here with transportation costs. I will be a verrrry happy camper!

Thanks for the link, js.

>Brussels, which for years paid people to set up vineyards, believes there are now too many small-scale wine-makers producing poor wine, ...<

There was an article on NPR last night about this. It seems that, because there is a guaranteed price for wine, there are many operators who just grow grapes knowing that they will never be made into wine.

These people can make a profit because they don't bother trying to produce good grapes.

I vote we form the Fodor's EU Wine Surplus Assistance Committee immediately.

Yes Sue, good idea. I'll take the position on the French Wine sub committee. On this occasion I will forgo a salary package and provide my expertise for free, for the greater good of France of course.

Why is the government even involved in this? If they hadn't gotten involved initially, then they wouldn't be involved now...think of the wasted money!

I'm in. I'll settle for the position of official taster, traveling from vineyard to vineyard, region to region, to taste the wines before the become part of our committee.

Obviously my efforts to "drain Europe’s swelling wine lake" have been inadequate. I could try just a bit harder if they'd lower the price a bit.

By the way, there's a whiff of schadenfreude in that Times article. The British love to see the French squirm.

Anselm

<< Why is the government even involved in this? If they hadn't gotten involved initially, then they wouldn't be involved now...think of the wasted money! >>

You obviously don't know much about French agriculture policy.
It has been said there is a no more protected, coddled, subsidized and inefficient person than a French farmer. The government is involved in every single decision made by anybody who grows anything in France.
The farmers are a highly protected class, even tiny reforms proposed to make things more competitive are met with protests and nationwide strikes.
My wine merchant (who sells me nothing but Aussie and US wines) says he barely moves any French product at all.
And coupled with the drubbing the French took at last months wine competition, the writing is on the wall.
It does however make decent fuel as long as the govt foots the bill for re-processing.
So, the govt subsidizes the growers, then subsidizes the vintners, then subsidizes the reprocessing. A triple whammy for the taxpayer. Neato.

The French, Spanish and Italians are just adapting to what is happening in the rest of the world, whether it be Chinese textiles or Indian steel. Thousands of hectares of vinyards have already been ripped up and they'll probably grow things like corn instead to make ethanol to replace gasoline.

>there is a no more protected, coddled, subsidized and inefficient person than a French farmer. ...<

That might account for why the food and wine is so good and so inexpensive.

I vow, I'm doing my part ...and I promise to do better..

[hic]

['cuse me]

I agree the french farmers are protected,coddled and well subsidized but not all are inefficient or there wouldn't be all that fine food and wine.

Then, we must re-double our efforts. It will be hard as it will minimally require additional travel to France and increased French wine consumption. Not all will be up to the challenge but it is a call to action for those who are willing and able.

Fine French Wines?
A truly fine wine does not end up getting recycled into industrial alcohol. It gets sold. And consumed. Except in France.
As for the food, well, thats quite overrated as well. The Italians win on that score.

"There was an article on NPR last night about this. It seems that, because there is a guaranteed price for wine, there are many operators who just grow grapes knowing that they will never be made into wine.

These people can make a profit because they don't bother trying to produce good grapes."

And that is the very essence of socialism as an inherently faulty economic system.

Actually, Galavanting, I do know about the French government subsidizing farmers so that there are too many farmers and products being produced. I was saying that tongue in cheek because if the government had stayed out of it, the law of supply and demand would have prevented the problem from happening. Once the government gets involved and distorts a market, it is incredibly painful to correct the situation and nearly impossible to get rid of the subsidy itself. It is the same in the US.

But I do enjoy the abundant, wonderful French food and wine, and I thank the French people from the bottom of my heart for subsidizing my meals with their tax euros!

>These people can make a profit because they don't bother trying to produce good grapes."

And that is the very essence of socialism as an inherently faulty economic system.

Darn right! That's why in the US, the very center of laissez faire, social Darwinist capitalism we subsidize:

soybeans, corn, cotton, peanuts, wheat, tomatoes, hops, railroads, steel mills, road construction, chicken processors, oil refiners, airlines, electricity from wind power, HMOs, etc, etc, etc.

SUGAR!! just to add to Ira's list...

"Darn right! That's why in the US, the very center of laissez faire, social Darwinist capitalism we subsidize:

soybeans, corn, cotton, peanuts, wheat, tomatoes, hops, railroads, steel mills, road construction, chicken processors, oil refiners, airlines, electricity from wind power, HMOs, etc, etc, etc."

Thank you, ira. I was just about to make that point.

Anselm (who comes from a country that coddles its farmers, too)