France uncorks wine offensive The French government is considering a plan to reclassify wine as "nourishment," a step that would defy medical science but ease advertising restraints and give a boost to producers who are fighting a desperate battle for survival. at
I saw they also approved the use of wood chips to get a nice oak barrel finish.
France is trying to follow the trend set by Spain. I think this is a complex issue, and the wine lobby tends to use a lot of pseudo-science to support its arguments. True, wine is a cultural thing in southern Europe, in moderation, wine is part of eating. But this ignores that wine is alcohol, no matter how you spin the argument, it is a problem.
I think that what France (and Southern Europe) needs is a change of habits, and the government campaign currently plastered all over the billboards is a big step in the right direction : "The guy driving is the guy that did not drink". Road accidents affect even the moderate drinker of quality wines. I honestly think that if you are driving, you should not have more than one glass, better if none at all.
Regarding severe drunkenness, I think it is clear that foetal malformations or other severe health problems due to alcohol abuse are due to all kinds of alcohol, including spirits, beer and yes, wine. MAybe not AOC wine, but wine nevertheless, and lots of it. The wine lobby must stop trivializing this fact.
Wood chips are not alllowed in quality AOCs. Have you any more info on this? Is it allowed in Vin de Pays, Table wine?
Mike
Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link
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I myself uncorked a wine offensive last week. Not only impertinent, it was aussi showing a trace of TCA. Cheers! Martin
Whoever thought the French would lift a page from the Reagan Adminstration...remember when ketchup was declared a "vegetable?" I suppose you can eat barbed wire, too, to get your daily allotment of iron. But the darned pieces are so small it's almost tasteless.
Re driving: 20 years ago in France they had signs posted that read, "Non merci, je conduis." (No thanks, I'm driving). Graphic of a hand refusing a martini. Obviously, Riedel didn't have much of a lobby back then. :)
JJ (Take out the papers and "unspam")
I read this about two weeks ago on vacation in Florida. I will try to find it. B
At least France is not repeating the Two-Buck Chuck experiment... the headline *could* have been:
"France uncorks offensive wine"
:-)
That was an offensive wine. A wine offensive is something else ;-)
Yet!
And in a related note, the California Supreme Court decided against Franzi last week and restated that wines labeled as Napa Valley have to be made from 75% Napa grapes. Franzi claims that since the US government OKed his label, California does not have a say in it and he is now taking his appeal forward.
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