Fischer Boel crowned wine personality of the year
Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has been awarded the Wine Personality of the Year 2008 award by the International Wine Challenge.
Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has been awarded the Wine Personality of the Year 2008 award by the International Wine Challenge.
Fischer Boel has been recognised for her "heroic achievement" in bringing about wine reform in Europe.
Her reform programme, which was adopted by the EU in August, included the introduction of a three-year payment programme for the grubbing up of unprofitable vineyards, the end of subsidies for the distillation of unwanted wines and scrapping restrictions on the planting of new vineyards. Fischer Boel is also responsible for the introduction of the 'national envelope', which allocates money to EU member countries for the promotion of wine produce and restructuring and modernisation of vineyards and cellars.
Commenting on the award, the IWC said: "In years to come, European wine producers may tell their children stories about Mariann Fischer Boel. Of how the family vineyards might have been pulled up and the family winemaking tradition lost had it not been for the intrepid heroine from the north. She has dragged the European wine industry into the 21st century, after loud protests and long arguments.
"Against huge opposition, she has persuaded country after country to accept the sometimes bitter medicine of reform. There have been a few compromises, but the European wine industry is now prepared to meet the competition from outside Europe leaner and fitter than it has been for decades."
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