First, I should explain that I am constantly seeking out wine bargains. Because I enjoy a good glass (or bottle) of wine routinely.
Recently, I found a wine that is rated 90+- and I can obtain it for about $ 6 a bottle. Now, that’s a great find.
It has become a standard pour in my house and at least two of my friends. We only drink one of the bottles a night and switch to more conventional wines (Malbec, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, so we don’t get tired of drinking the grand bargain wine.) But, then I ran across this news bit that both dismayed me and confused me.
Because of a glut in production- and a deficit in our drinking habits- France is experiencing a surplus of wine. How much? Try 80 million gallons of wine, at least. And, they plan to destroy this surplus at a cost of about $ 216 million bucks!
The European Union is going to subsidize the French with about $ 172 million to destroy that surplus. France will cover the rest of the costs. They plan to distill the wine into alcohol to be used for other projects.
What I don’t understand is why they don’t just bottle that wine? Oh, sure I know that’s about 5% of the annual French wine sales. And, 5% of the annual volume sold at a discount should not create havoc in the marketplace. Which means they could bottle this wine, sell it at a discount (like the $ 6 I pay for that great bottle), which means they would get about $ 3 in revenue- which is how much they are spending to destroy it- but now, it’s revenue.
And, I know they are scared blankless that the price of wine will plummet and destroy their market, but not if they sell this wine under a no-name label (2 buck chuck?)
What do you think?
This is a shame! Trader Joe’s, are you listening? Seriously, there must be something that could be done. But maybe not by TJ’s, at least not in New York, where wine can only be sold in liquor stores. It always angers me when food is destroyed like this.
Thanks for adding to the conversation, Alana!