Northern wine-makers to win sugar reprieve

European wine-makers will be allowed to continue using sugar to boost the alcohol of their wine as part of a compromise package on wine reform that farm ministers are expected to agree next week (17-19 December).

The Portuguese presidency is preparing a draft text that will retreat from the European Commission’s call for a total ban on chaptalisation, the process of enriching wine by adding sugar, in a bid to sweeten up member states to reach political agreement.

Earlier this week (11 December) Mariann Fischer Boel, the agriculture commissioner, signalled a compromise on this issue, but insisted that countries would have to give up something. Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, she said: "There has been a huge row about this [chaptalisation], and I haven’t blocked my ears to this, but the status quo does hold a genuine problem."

Twenty countries oppose the ban on chaptalisation, arguing that adding sugar is a traditional way of wine making. Northern wine-makers in cooler climes use sugar and would benefit from its retention, therefore as a quid pro quo, southern wine-makers that use must (grape juice) to enrich wine are expected to press for a continuation of subsidies for must. But levels of sugar and subsidies are expected to be cut in the final deal.

Ministers are also gearing up for a fight over the national financial envelope, the amount of EU money available to each country and what it can be spent on. Several countries are lobbying for more money and fewer restrictions on where funds can be directed. A Romanian official said that Romania would be contesting the reduction in their national envelope after 2009 and would be seeking more money for wine-makers who volunteer to leave the industry.

The grubbing-up scheme - payments to encourage unsuccessful grape-growers to leave the industry - is set to be trimmed. The current proposal on the table is for a three-year grubbing-up scheme with a limit of 175,000 hectares of vines pulled down, compared to the original Commission proposal of a five-year scheme with an upper limit of 200,000 hectares.

Some countries are also seeking further concessions on restricting grubbing up to protect soil. A Slovenian official said: "For us, it is a rural development issue. If you get rid of vineyards, you get soil erosion."

When the final deal is hammered out, farmers could get payments for the extra cost of keeping wine in difficult regions.

Also at next week’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council ministers will set annual total allowable catches and quotas for fishermen for 2008.

European wine-makers will be allowed to continue using sugar to boost the alcohol of their wine as part of a compromise package on wine reform that farm ministers are expected to agree next week (17-19 December).