Wine lake

For the Chinese expression, see Deer Terrace Pavilion.

Wine lake is a cultural phrase referring to the phenomenon of perceived overproduction of wine in the European Union. The phenomenon first came in perception & persistence around the mid-1980s [1][2] and reemerged in the mid-2000s as a significant issue. The EU's Common Agricultural Policy contained a number of subsidies for wine producers, leading to a supply glut. This surplus forced an overhaul of EU farm policies.[1][3]

In 2007 it was reported that for the previous several vintages, Europe had been producing 1.7 billion more bottles of wine than they sold.[4] Hundreds of millions of bottles of wine had been turned into industrial alcohol every year, a practice that had sometimes been described as "emergency distillation"[5] at a cost to taxpayers of €500 million per year.[4] A major contributor was reported to be Languedoc-Roussillon wine production, which used one third of the grapes grown in France.

One of the proposed remedies to wine lake was Plan Bordeaux, an initiative introduced in 2005 by the French vintners association ONIVINS to reduce France's production and raise prices. Part of the plan was to uproot 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of the 124,000 ha (310,000 acres) of vineyards in Bordeaux. The proposed plan was met with some resistance.[6]

In 2020, wine growers warned that the EU risked another massive surplus due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,[1] particularly the restaurant closures. The growers called for additional subsidies to distill surplus wine.[1] A large portion of the wine surplus was distilled into hand sanitizer.[7]

In 2023, €200 million was again earmarked for conversion of surplus wine into industrial products.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d Wax, Eddy (27 April 2020). "Europe braces for return of wine lakes as coronavirus dampens demand". Politico Europe. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  2. ^ "European Community: Wine Output Decline Helps Budget". Foreign Agriculture. April 1985. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  3. ^ Jones, Sam (8 June 2006). "Commission pulls plug on EU wine lake". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  4. ^ a b Macle, Diana; Frank, Mitch (6 July 2007). "Europe's Plan to Pull Up Vineyards Is Met With Disdain ... Again". Wine Spectator. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  5. ^ Wyatt, Caroline (10 August 2006). "Draining France's 'wine lake'". BBC News. Retrieved 21 May 2007.
  6. ^ Smith, Jeremy (4 July 2007). "Winemakers pour cold water on EU 'wine lake' plan". Reuters. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Surproduction : Le vin distillé pour fabriquer du gel hydroalcoolique". 16 June 2020.
  8. ^ France to spend €200m destroying wine as demand falls