As part of the plan the EU is hoping to take around 175,000 hectares of uncompetitive vineyards out of the market in Europe by providing farmers with subsidies for grubbing them up and planting new crops. Funding support for the crisis distillation of surplus wines has also been scraped.
Conversely, the restrictions on planting rights will gradually be abolished, thereby allowing farmers who are competitive and successful to plant more vines.
Wine making practices are also to be more flexible, but there is to be tighter regulation of vineyards, with the EU taking full control of approving all new practices.
'Vin de Table' Becomes 'Vin de France'
However, it is the new system of wine labelling and classification that has generated most controversy.
Gone is the familiar Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) classification that has served France for the past 30 years, to be replaced by a European wide descriptive model.
The aim of this reform is to make the whole system of wine labelling easier for the consumer to understand.
The existing system of AOC control has few friends in France, if only because of the high level of self-regulation of the present arrangements.
The use of AOC was meant to guarantee a certain level of geographic authenticity and quality, but as around 40% of the wines produced in France now possess the classification many critics consider the label has lost any meaning.
A system that allows some AOC wines to sell for €30 or more, while other wines with the same classification can be found in the shops for less than €3, certainly seems of dubious value to the consumer.
The new regime will introduce a greater level of independent regulation of the market, but for some wines the link between terroir and the wine in the bottle will actually become even more tenuous!
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David Yeates
