Commission plans to turn water into wine

By Emily Smith

Date: 15/06/06

European wine exports could rise if producers are allowed to water down wines and use wood chips for flavouring, according to the European Commission.

The measures will be suggested in a communication on reforming the EU wine sector next week (22 June).

Practices like dilution and artificial ageing with wood chips are currently widespread in new wine producing countries such as the US and Argentina, but banned for 'Old World' European wines.

With EU wine exports struggling to keep up as New World sales rise, the Commission says Europe should learn from its young cousins.

"EU producers should be allowed to produce and market 'new world' type wines, in order to put EU producers on an equal footing with external competitors," says the communication, which will be followed by legislation later this year. This means adopting international production practices like the wood chips technique.

Old classics such as French Gigondas and Costières de Nimes are also confusing shoppers with their cryptic labels, says the Commission.

An existing law limiting the information allowed on table wine labels should be scrapped, suggests the communication, and a clear indication of the grapes in a wine encouraged. Health and consumer information should also be provided on labels, as is already the case in the US.

Over-production means millions of gallons of wine that cannot be sold in Europe are turned into ethanol or vinegar every year.

People working with Old World producers, however, doubt that European wines would benefit from becoming more like their non-EU competitors.

Jean-Paul Fontaine of Brussels wine traders Mouchart & Fils, a company with over a century's experience of buying French wines for sale in Belgium, said Europe should be promoting the uniqueness of its wines rather than trying to conform to a New World standard.

"The day that [conformity] happens, wines from France and other parts of Europe will lose out. The diversity of EU wines is their strength. We should promote those values rather than aiming for total liberalisation."

He said some things in the EU wine industry had to change but that they were more to do with viniculture in the field. Irrigating fields should always be allowed, he suggested, not just as an emergency measure as is now the case.

Fontaine admitted that the success of New World wine is in part due to its simple labels. He added, however, that lower production costs in countries such as Argentine also make wines from parts of the New World cheaper and more appealing to many buyers.

"Giving more information on EU wine labels could help sell our wines to customers outside the EU," he added, "but over here I'm not convinced it will change much."

Printing health warnings on wine labels makes Fontaine smile. "It is a very typically American decision...it assumes people are not very discerning or intelligent," he said.

Article anticipates the adoption of a Communication by the European Commission on how to reform the EU wine sector, scheduled for 22 June 2006.

European Commission: DG Agriculture and Rural Development: The reform of the wine sector http://ec.europa.eu/comm/agriculture/capreform/wine/index_en.htm

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