By Bernard Burtschy
The European commission has just released another ten million litres of French wine for distillation. France, Italy and Spain are Europe's largest producers
and all three make more wine than they can sell. Last year Europe spent 180 million Euros to turn this excess wine into industrial alcohol. It was not all merely table wine, but also better juice from reputable appellations. In order to address this problem directly and reduce costs for the tax payer, the agricultural commissioner in Brussels, Mariann Fischer Boel, would like to reform the wine market and drastically shrink the existing vineyard area.
