BELLEVILLE-SUR-SAONE, France: In the midst of some of France's most celebrated vineyards, a row of giant machines is busy at work distilling some of this year's vintage in a high-tech process winemakers hope will help them stay afloat.

The result is a kind of reverse alchemy: quality wine turned into near-pure alcohol for use in disinfectants, cleaning products or gasoline additives. The steaming grape juice that's left is pumped into an enormous open-air vat — something like an oversized Jacuzzi — sucked up by cistern trucks and hauled back to the vineyards, where it will be used to fertilize next year's vintage.

Chronic overproduction, dipping domestic consumption and fierce overseas competition have converged to create a European wine crisis of unprecedented scale. With lakes of unsold wine threatening to undermine prices, the European 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.

Skeptics say the measure, which cost EU taxpayers €150 million (US$190 million) last year alone, is merely a quick fix that does not get at the root of the problem — which is that Europe simply produces too much wine for too few consumers. A contested new EU plan aims to fix at least the production side by downsizing Europe's wine industry. The proposal would shift away from distillation in favor of ripping out huge swaths of vineyards. Some 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of vines, more than 10 percent of Europe's total, could be grubbed up over the next five years. Across Spain, France and Italy, Europe's vintners are putting up a united front against the proposal, which they see as draconian and defeatist.

But as more wine is distilled each year — reaching 2.8 billion liters (740 million gallons) in 2005 — even the most virulent opponents of the EU plan acknowledge that something has got to give. "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 considered only for the cheapest table wines. Now, however, quality wines are also boiled away in large quantities. So for the second autumn in a row, Philippe Terrollion, director of the Beaujolais Distillery in central-eastern France, sent out a fleet of trucks to pick up an expected 8.5 million liters (2.3 million gallons) of unbottled, unsold Beaujoulais wine. That's 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, Terrollion paid vintners the EU-fixed price of about 35 euro cents per liter (US$1.66 per gallon) — about one-fifth of the average price paid by wholesalers for bottled wine sold for consumption. The problem is, the wine just doesn't sell. European vintages are languishing on the shelf as consumers around the world reach for bottles from New World producers in Chile, the U.S., 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.

European vintners were too slow to respond to the so-called "New World threat," said Louis-Fabrice Latour, who heads the prestigious Louis Latour label in the Burgundy region, just north of Beaujolais. "In France, we used to think we were the biggest and the best and no one could touch us," said Latour, and the feelings of superiority blinded vintners to the threat from by foreign rivals. But overseas competition is not the only reason behind Europe's wine troubles. Changing continental drinking habits are also a major culprit. 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 5 billion liters (1.3 billion gallons) of wine a year, according to the European Commission. By 2005, yearly consumption in both countries had dipped to roughly 3 billion liters (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. Like many locals, 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 France. "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. In 1960, the average Frenchman drank 3.1 bottles of wine per week. Today, the average intake is 1.4 bottles per week and falling, according to Michel Baldassini, who heads the main Burgundy wine growers' association.

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

The change is hurting middle-market regions like Beaujolais while favoring vineyards in places like Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy — the prestigious regions on which Europe is betting its winemaking future. The EU's wine overhaul still needs approval from member governments and the European Parliament. Brussels officials hope to have the new rules in place for the 2008 growing season. The winemakers warn against tearing out vineyards, saying the measure will effectively tie their hands and prevent them from adapting to a changing world wine market. They point to India and China — where an emerging middle class is beginning to acquire taste for wine.

"When the Chinese really get into wine, demand for our product is going to explode to the point where if we cut back today, we might not be able to fill it," the Beaujolais association's de Longevialle said. Still, with the continent's distilleries working overtime, nearly everyone admits 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."

quelle: www.winebusiness.com

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was kann der deutsche winzer tun um zu überleben und um nicht im weinsee, besser im weinstrudel, zu ertrinken?

konkurieren kann er sicher nicht mit den big-guns der weinbranche. das klima und die dazugehörigen rebsorten der neuen welt, hat er nur in begrenztem volumen. was er hat sind DIE rebsorten & DIE weinberge und DIE tradition & DIE prägungen in SEINER weinregion. UNd das bestreben sollte er haben, qualität produzieren zu wollen mit dem was er vorfindet. ich weiss, das ist leicht gesagt aber ich kenne genug beispiele bzw. winzer die damit erfolg haben und sich nicht am europäischen weinsee verschlucken.

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