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Wine tasting begins again at Château Montrose in Saint-Estephe near Bordeaux on June 4, 2020 as … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
French alcohol producers have had a bad year. With restaurants and bars closed for two months during the pandemic, the industry has suffered from low sales across the board. Champagne sales fell particularly sharply and people haven’t been drinking high-end wine, such as Chablis, in the same quantities as usual. This means that a lot of wine has been left unsold, sitting in the cellars of wine producers across France.
A scheme was backed and financed today by the EU and as reported by The Guardian, 33 distilleries have been given the all clear to collect 2 million hectolitres and turn it into ethanol to make hand sanitizer. (One hectolitre is the equivalent of 100 litres).
Wine and champagne bottles on sale at a supermarket in Coutances, northwestern France.
AFP via Getty Images
FranceAgriMer, the country’s farming agency, said there is around 3 million hectolitres sitting in cellars which needed to be turned into hand sanitizer because of low sales–the wine needs to be removed to make room for this year’s harvest.
Winemakers can join the scheme before June 19 and will be paid €78 per hectolitre for AOP wine and €58 for non AOP wine. AOP wine is that which is linked to a specific area, made with very specific guidelines about the type and quantity of grapes allowed in each bottle.
Wine producers have been reassured that their wine will not be used to make alcoholic drinks.
Michael Dupuy at his wine shop in Boston on Jan. 4, 2020 after starting an online petition to oppose … [+]
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The sector is also battling new export tariffs for wines sold to the U.S.–the World Trade Organisation recently ruled that the U.S. could legally apply these taxes to wine brought in from France to compensate for unfair subsidies given to the European airplane manufacturer Airbus, in competition with U.S. manufacturer Boeing.
France has now come out of lockdown and bars, restaurants and cafés reopened on June 2, under strict regulations. Tables must be more than one metre apart, no more than 10 people are allowed at any table and servers must wear masks at all times.
Paris remains under stricter controls where people are only allowed to eat and drink on outdoor tables–the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has allowed premises to take over the streets provided they don’t cause irritation to local residents and other businesses.
