No, I’m not about to start stamping about on Doug’s turf, but I noticed this story in today’s New York Times (free registration required). Apparently there is such a glut of French wine in the market that some quality wines are selling in supermarkets in that country for less than the cost of bottled water. To survive, French vintners are converting 150 million liters of the country’s Appellation d’Origine Controlée into ethanol to be used in gasoline.
The article cites a few reasons for this overabundance, including a crackdown on drunken driving in France, but finally gets around to this:
Mr. Gibelin’s exports to the United States are a tenth of what they were a few years ago, thanks to a strong euro and, to some extent, he says, to the American boycott of French products that followed France’s refusal to support the invasion of Iraq (his biggest market was in Texas).
France may yet have the last laugh, however:
Because France exports gasoline and one of its biggest markets is the United States, by sometime next year, some Americans may be pumping their cars full of gas that includes a bit of Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.
I guess that soon I won’t have to check just the octane rating but the vintage as well when I fill my car. With a particularly bad year it might be fun spill the gas on the ground and complain to the attendant, “You call this gasoline? Why, I wouldn’t serve this to my lawn mower!”
I don’t want to trespass on King’s turf either, so I’ll leave it to him to evaluate the effectiveness of the EU’s response:
Whatever its cause, the glut has led to ruinous price declines. A bottle of modest Côtes-du-Rhône that used to sell wholesale for about 1.20 euros, or about $1.40, sells today for 60 centimes, about 70 cents. Even bottles of fancier Saint-Émilion are going for under 3 euros apiece.
To prevent the problem from growing, the European Union has kept the acreage devoted to vineyards in Europe fixed for the last five years. There are even subsidies available for people who agree to tear up their vineyards rather than keep producing bad wine, known in Europe as plonk. France’s state wine regulator, the National Inter-Professional Wine Bureau, has also been buying up vineyard rights – in effect, licenses to make wine – and taking them off the market.
I vote for a glut of wine! Nothing like a glut to keep us wine lovers happy.
Oh, la la! Fill ‘er Up!
Before I get started on another Miers nomination tirade, Nightwriter found a more whimsical topic for your edification and amusement involving booze, cars, and ridiculing the Fre…