European Vintners to Sell Surplus Wine as Biofuel, Ethanol Feedstock
Believe it or not, but some of the exquisite Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Chardonnay and Chianti that is produced in Europe each year - and which many are keen to serve with exclusive meals only - might soon end up in European vehicles as ethanol.
Last year distillers in France and Italy already turned the season's surplus production from European vineyards into biofuel. This year, they're doing it again.
Up to 510 million liters of this year's surplus wine will be made into bioethanol that can only be used as biofuel or industrial alcohol, the European Commission announced. French winemakers have been given a quota of 150m hectoliters of table wine and 150m of quality wine, while Italians can sell 250m of quality and 10m liters of table wine for what the EU calls "crisis distillation."
Greek and Spanish winemakers have also asked the EU to buy their unwanted wine, and are awaiting a response.
...
The EU will pay around 130m euros for this year's surplus wine. Last year, more than 180m euros of EU cash went to pay for the distillation of wine for which buyers could not be found.
Turning quality wine into bioethanol may not be the cheapest way of producing biofuel, but it makes use of some of the excess wine that would otherwise go to waste.
Nevertheless, the EU aims to put an end to the practice by cutting the amount of surplus wine produced. Agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "Crisis distillation is becoming a depressingly regular feature of our common market organization for wine.
"While it offers temporary assistance to producers, it does not deal with the core of the problem - that Europe is producing too much wine for which there is no market. That is why a deep-rooted reform of the sector is needed urgently."
The EU strategy aimed at cutting waste in the viticulture industry will be unveiled when Mariann Fischer Boel presents her plans for reforming the sector on June 22.
The plans foresee introducing new production methods to bring down prices and make European wine more competitive on the global market.
Greenbiz.
Last year distillers in France and Italy already turned the season's surplus production from European vineyards into biofuel. This year, they're doing it again.
Up to 510 million liters of this year's surplus wine will be made into bioethanol that can only be used as biofuel or industrial alcohol, the European Commission announced. French winemakers have been given a quota of 150m hectoliters of table wine and 150m of quality wine, while Italians can sell 250m of quality and 10m liters of table wine for what the EU calls "crisis distillation."
Greek and Spanish winemakers have also asked the EU to buy their unwanted wine, and are awaiting a response.
...
The EU will pay around 130m euros for this year's surplus wine. Last year, more than 180m euros of EU cash went to pay for the distillation of wine for which buyers could not be found.
Turning quality wine into bioethanol may not be the cheapest way of producing biofuel, but it makes use of some of the excess wine that would otherwise go to waste.
Nevertheless, the EU aims to put an end to the practice by cutting the amount of surplus wine produced. Agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "Crisis distillation is becoming a depressingly regular feature of our common market organization for wine.
"While it offers temporary assistance to producers, it does not deal with the core of the problem - that Europe is producing too much wine for which there is no market. That is why a deep-rooted reform of the sector is needed urgently."
The EU strategy aimed at cutting waste in the viticulture industry will be unveiled when Mariann Fischer Boel presents her plans for reforming the sector on June 22.
The plans foresee introducing new production methods to bring down prices and make European wine more competitive on the global market.
Greenbiz.
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