Destroy French wine

[winesonoma]

France to distill wine http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...e_too_much_wine

[pattimw]

Wha??????

Is this the only way to unload surplus wine?

[chefzadi]

They could repackage in Californian or Australian wine bottles that have much easier to understand labels for the average consumer.

[jayt90]

Well, then will the price of good AOC wine drop in the next six months? The market bears watching.

The vintners could help their cause in upcoming vintages by intensifying the wines, avoiding chaptalisation, and re-organizing outdated AOC regulations.

There was a wine lake in the Midi in the 80's, and a lot of distilling occurred to get it under control. A few prize vineyards began to concentrate on quality there, and in other areas such as the right bank, Alsace, and Bourgogne; now it is up to vintners in other areas to follow through.

[Brad Ballinger]

The incomplete thing about the news story is that there are like a gazillion AOC designations. For example, any wine labeled "Bordeaux" is AOC. Most consumers "into" wine, however, will buy only Bordeaux that has a higher level AOC such as Saint Julien, Pomerol, etc. This is just one example. Believe me, there isn't any Chateau Petrus being sent to the distillery.

France is experiencing what California has been experience for a little while now -- what has been called a wine glut. In fact, in California it even became a grape glut, with growers unable to find buyers for all their crop.

One would hypothesize, then, that this is good for the consumer market. If only that were truly the case. Wine prices continue to rise on both the low end and the high end (less so in the middle -- which is likely the area where the wines in the news story are priced). And, for right or wrong, there is still a certain cachet afforded to a wine based on its price tag. Should these French producers cut there price in the market? Well, if they do, there is a risk that the next vintage/release will have trouble selling at the "regular" price. It's not just a decision for current supply, but for future supply as well.

In the market we are seeing established, cult-like, and well-marketed niche producers doing fine with wines at the high end. At the low end, we are seeing the formation of more conglomerate-like entities. Although there is still plenty of "middle," there isn't as much of it to go around. One can see parallel patterns happening in retail and agribusiness. Wine isn't exempt.

[wmsmurray]

I just hope that this glut does not produce the French equivalent of Two Buck Chuck. *shudder*