France Allocates Significant Funding to Wine Destruction

The popularity of craft beer in France has led to a surplus of wine due to changing drinking habits. To address this issue, the French government is spending $215 million to destroy surplus wine and repurpose it into products like hand sanitizer and perfume. The additional funding of $43 million from the European Union is aimed at preventing price collapses and providing alternative sources of revenue for wine-makers, as reported by the BBC (source).

The wine industry in France has faced challenges like overproduction and the cost-of-living crisis, resulting in decreased wine consumption. To offset these difficulties, money is being allocated to help vineyard growers transition to producing alternative products such as olives. Meanwhile, beer consumption is on the rise in France and other European countries, particularly with the emergence of craft beer. France has seen a significant increase in breweries, from 246 in 2006 to nearly 2,000 presently, mainly concentrated in the northeast of the country (source).

The European Union has noted a decline in wine consumption in Spain (10%), France (15%), and Portugal (34%) for the year, while production across the bloc has actually increased by 4%. This surplus of wine is reminiscent of the “wine lake” that occurred almost 20 years ago due to overproduction, prompting the EU to reform its agricultural subsidies program. These developments highlight the challenges faced by the wine industry in France and the need for adaptability in response to changing consumer preferences (source).