FRANCE PLANS TO DISTIL 250 MILLION LITRES OF AOC WINE
France has asked the EU for permission and funding to distil around 250 million litres of quality wine - including 200 million litres of AOC product. Although France has traditionally turned excess wine into pure alcohol for industrial production, this is the first time such a large amount of quality wine will be used for this purpose. The proposal, put forward by the Confederation of French Wine Cooperatives - which accounts for half of France's wine production - would see vignerons sell their wine to distillers for a fixed EU price of around one-fifth of the normal market rate. Together, the EU and the French government would provide e300 million to fund the process. It is believed around half the total is Bordeaux wine that vignerons are unable to sell due to a CIVB (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) decision to limit growers to selling only 50 hectolitres per hectare of the large 2004 harvest in an attempt to cut the surplus.
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