France Is Throwing Away Wine. Can We Have Some?

By Madeleine Zaharchuk Leave a Comment

Remember when the colonists threw their tea in the Boston harbor? Well, you aren’t about to see us throw our precious glass of Food and Wine Festival Black and Blue Port in the World Showcase Lagoon these days, but there is one part of the world where alcohol is being deliberately destroyed.

Florida Orange Groves Winery Black and Blue Port

France is destroying a LOT of wine, and we just have one question…can we have some?

According to the Washington Post, France is preparing to “destroy enough wine to fill more than 100 Olympic-size swimming pools.” If they’ve got so many leftovers, surely they’d be fine with sending us a few bottles, right?

©The Washington Post

You might be wondering WHY France is going to destroy all this wine, especially considering that this action is going to cost the nation $216 million. The simple reason is that demand is too low, which means winemakers aren’t able to make a profit on the excess wine, so it’s better for them to destroy the wine rather than flood the market with way too much.

Wine

This isn’t the first time France has encountered this problem — back in June, France spent approximately $172 million to destroy about 80 million gallons of wine.

Just to clarify, the wine isn’t just being poured down the drain. Instead, winemakers “distill their wine into pure alcohol to be used for other products, such as cleaning supplies or perfume.”

Perfume

Demand for wine has actually been declining for almost a hundred years — the peak of wine consumption in France was 1926. At that time, “the average French citizen drank about 136 liters per year.” Now, according to the Post, that number has gone down to about 40 liters.

Wine in France

A decrease in demand is one of the main problems, but several other factors have also had a negative impact on the winemaking industry. These include the coronavirus pandemic (which affected production and supply chains), the war in Ukraine (which has made it more difficult to get certain products), and climate change (which creates more extreme conditions that make harvesting difficult).

Although the industry is struggling, France is hoping that strict regulations will bring things back on track. Winemakers will need to adapt to the changes mentioned above and look into new ways to promote wine and make it a more popular choice for the younger generations.

Wine bottles

In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.

If you love wine, you’ll want to know about this new item in Disney Springs!

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