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submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The French government is allocating €200m (£171.6m) to destroy surplus wine and support producers.

It comes amid a cocktail of problems for the industry, including a falling demand for wine as more people drink craft beer.

Overproduction and the cost of living crisis are also hitting the industry.

Most of the €200m will be used to buy excess stock, with the alcohol sold for use in items such as hand sanitiser, cleaning products and perfume.

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[-] nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Damn. I'm much more of a craft beer person, but this is sad. Is just marking it down not an option?

Edit: Oh, never mind. They want to stop prices collapsing. Yeah, sounds like France. Forever bailing out their farmers 🙄

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 year ago

Is just marking it down not an option?

Not when you're propping up billionaire monopolists.

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To avoid price collapse and still sell it they could create a generic label to bottle it under and export it. They could probably sell it near the original price in the US with a good marketing campaign.

[-] zhaozhaoer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Like Yellowtail, probably will even be better quality

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[-] BeautifulMind@lemmy.world 55 points 1 year ago

Y'know, if you're going to spend the money anyways, just subsidize the sellers for the season and let them cut costs to the point that demand tips up. That way they'll make some money themselves and learn for the next season where the price point is.

All paying to destroy it in order to keep prices up does is... keep it expensive above what the market will bear and cost the taxpayers while making them thirsty and sad

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I'd love to know how much more demand they could have created by spending that money giving away the wine at a big event where a single sommelier teaches wine appreciation to the masses. Create future customers instead of trying to manipulate markets, I say. Especially when you're selling something addictive.

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[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

that sucks, wine preserves long time after all, they could save it as Canada's maple syrup or US Cheese reserves

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 35 points 1 year ago

This is cheap wine which doesn’t age well.

[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

couldn't they still distill it and sell it as something else?

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I mean I know it's a lot to ask, but if you read the article, or even just the context OP posted just below the headline, you may find something interesting like:

Most of the €200m will be used to buy excess stock, with the alcohol sold for use in items such as hand sanitiser, cleaning products and perfume.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

that would make the use of the word destroying on the title a little clickbaity wouldn't it? reading the article should be to find additional details, not contradictions

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 6 points 1 year ago

It’s no longer wine. The wine is destroyed. They do not plan to breach the laws of physics, lol. It’s clickbaity but not crazy inaccurate.

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

First time in the Internet, huh? Well welcome to the party.

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[-] gens@programming.dev 45 points 1 year ago

You know what would drive demand up ? Cheap wine.

[-] Uncaged_Jay@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

To be fair, I can get a bottle of D.O.C.G. Prosecco from Costco for $7, and most people consider it to be fairly good prosecco

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

The world already has Two Buck Chuck. How much cheaper do you want?

[-] Poob@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 year ago

Businesses should be forced to donate unsold food products

[-] Shapillon@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not sure I'd consider alcohol a "food product"

Although I 110% agree with your comment.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

A few months ago didn't the country have riots about how the government tried to raise the retirement age? Shows where the priorities are

[-] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 year ago

The government is terrified of the agricultural holders union.

So they will do anything to try to keep them happy.

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[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago

So all I have to do to get millions of euros from the government is produce a bunch of shit that nobody wants?

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Paid for by people who produced things that people did want.

[-] slinkyninja@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

That’s how the whole economy works, financed straight off the money printer at the top. Launder a percentage for yourself and burn the rest on a bonfire.

[-] Legolution@feddit.uk 23 points 1 year ago

I'd do it for them for half that!

[-] mindbleach@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

The grapes of wrath aren't usually so literal.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

They very much were. The book is about people moving to harvest grapes in California

[-] mothersprotege@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I mean, fair enough, and I've only seen the film adaptation, but I would expect literal grapes of wrath to ferment into Klingon bloodwine, and I don't recall that being a plot point.

[-] fernfrost@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

So that means the demand for wine destroyers increased? Where can I apply?

[-] vox@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago

I volunteer as tribute to take a bite of of this deplorable situation

[-] sagrotan@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Aaaand another example of a whole industry destroyed by ignorance, anachronisms and greed. Good. What's next? Electric cars? Furniture?

[-] Copernican@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

That's a bummer, but I do appreciate how France supports it's artisanal culture and producers. It's nice being able to have a decent glass of wine at just about any brasserie or cafe in Paris for under 10 euro. In the US it is like 12 bucks a glass for some pretty mediocre wine.

[-] 1bluepixel@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I was gonna guess you're American even before reading your last sentence, because €10 for a glass of wine is outrageous by European standards. Hehe.

I'm in Eastern Europe right now, and I typically get a half-liter of very good local wine for less than €5.

[-] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago

Even in France you can get an whole bottle of an excellent Bordeaux or Côtes du Rhône Villages for less than €5

If you got charged €10 for a glass you must have a big neon "TOURIST" sign on your head 😂

[-] bossito@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

You can buy very decent wine for less than 3€/bottle in any Portuguese supermarket 😅

[-] 1bluepixel@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I wasn't gonna mention supermarket prices... The poor Americans have it rough enough already. 😁

The price/quality ratio of wine in French supermarkets is absolutely crazy. You can walk in to a shabby corner store and get an absolutely decent Bordeaux for pocket change.

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[-] Rekonok@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

French here

None of this money will ever end in anything artisanal

This is for industrial wine and big lands owners that fund mains politicals parties

Then they will have another round of public money because of bad weather, then another because ebil chileans do better and cheaper whine then another because of so much money we have to salary accountants to put all of this in tax havens

Those scams are running since decades

[-] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago

As an American, I am seething

[-] DrFuggles@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago

Why dont they turn it into vinegar?

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[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 10 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


It comes amid a cocktail of problems for the industry, including a falling demand for wine as more people drink craft beer.

Most of the €200m will be used to buy excess stock, with the alcohol sold for use in items such as hand sanitiser, cleaning products and perfume.

In a bid to cut back on the overproduction, money will also be available for winegrowers to change to other products, such as olives.

In funnelling the money into the industry, the French government aims to stop "prices collapsing... so that wine-makers can find sources of revenue again", Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said.

Despite the financial help - an initial EU fund of €160m which the French government topped up to €200m - the wine industry needs to "look to the future, think about consumer changes ... and adapt", he added.

European Commission data for the year to June shows that wine consumption has fallen 7% in Italy, 10% in Spain, 15% in France, 22% in Germany and 34% in Portugal, while wine production across the bloc - the world's biggest wine-making area - rose 4%.


The original article contains 211 words, the summary contains 185 words. Saved 12%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] Stinkywinks@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Maybe they should stop making so much if they are going to destroy it.

[-] morphballganon@mtgzone.com 9 points 1 year ago

Crazy they couldn't just export it. Bunch of countries love wine

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

Globally there’s a glut of low quality wine.

Tarrifs and shipping costs eat up too much profit margin.

[-] Squeezer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Not just globally, also locally. At my house.

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago

Sounds like you need to invite some friends over to help with the overstock situation.

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[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Such a shame for the wine that so much must be spent to destroy it.

[-] Uncaged_Jay@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

"A cocktail of problems"

Heheh.

[-] ComradeChairmanKGB@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all.

Grapes of Wrath

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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
274 points (98.9% liked)

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