The EU is attempting the delicate task of modernising the wine industry
Beware the devil in the detail could be the health warning attached to the recent EU Commission proposals aimed at creating an efficient and prosperous European wine industry. Though there is still much talking to be done, specifically by EU farm ministers, the outline proposals, though welcome, contain enough ambiguity to worry consumer and producer alike. In her admirable haste to make Europe fit to take on the challenge of the new world, EU commissioner for agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel (above) must be careful not to throw out the good with the bad.
The bad, of course, is the rivers of poor and unwanted wine forced into "crisis distillation" at a cost of about half a billion euro to the European taxpayer each year. Fischer Boel rightly says this is not a good way to spend money - in part she wants to spend it on better marketing of better wine. She proposes pulling up 200,000 hectares of the 3.6 million hectares under vine, and then banning any planting until 2014. However, another figure puts a different complexion on that 3.6 million hectares - it contains 2.4 million holdings. That figure represents real communities and traditions handed down over the centuries. They have survived recessions, disease and wars and will not easily fade away, whether they be in southern France, Italy, Germany, Slovenia or Spain.
It is important that any rationalising does not result in loss of indigenous grapes or important terrain. It would seem that Fischer Boel is aware of that danger, but the fact that after 2013 "competitive wine producers" will be allowed to expand their production based on their "ability to sell what they produce" could conceivably result in an adoption of mainstream varietals such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon to the detriment of more region-specific grapes. Fischer Boel seems to be putting a lot of faith in the wisdom of the market. But markets are dictated by knee-jerk reactions and short-term objectives. As with national languages, the wine business is a mixture of heart and head. As a business it must make economic sense, but the retention of tradition comes at a price. As ever, it is a matter of getting the balance right.
In a way it is ironic that the EU is dealing with the new-world challenge by mimicking them in some places with, for example, clearer and more detailed labelling - vintage and varietal will appear on even the cheapest bottle - just as the new world seeks to move its business to the next level by focusing on old-world concepts such as terroir. The consolidation of minor companies into one major multinational unit, eg Constellation, is not good for diversity or competition or, in the long term, for the consumer. The European model should celebrate and support diversity of grape and tradition and should encourage efficiency, innovation and co-operation. When we buy a bottle of wine from the EU, we should know what is in it, where it came from and from what year - the only mystery should be why it tastes so good.
See the proposals at tinyurl.com/2gtdff