- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
The French government is allocating €200m (£171.6m) to destroy surplus wine and support producers.
It comes amid a cocktail of problems for the industry, including a falling demand for wine as more people drink craft beer.
Overproduction and the cost of living crisis are also hitting the industry.
Most of the €200m will be used to buy excess stock, with the alcohol sold for use in items such as hand sanitiser, cleaning products and perfume.
Price can be a factor in determining what to drink, obviously, but to compare these different products as though they’re interchangeable would be a mistake. There’s no price point at which a Bordeaux becomes a gose, so you have to account for not just the cost in dollars but the cost inasmuch as the consumer would be subbing something they don’t want for something they do. How much cheaper would wine have to be to induce someone who wants a beer to drink it? Personally, if there’s only red wine around I’ll just go to bed sober at any price.