EU Acts to Ease Pain of Wine Consumption Plunge

Production of wine in the European Union this year was 4% higher than last year, which sounds pretty good until you see the drops in wine consumption: 7% in Italy, 10% in Spain, 15% in France, 22% in Germany and 34% in Portugal.

If you thought exports was bailing out EU wine producers, wrong:  EU wine exports for the period January to April 2023 have been 8,5% lower than the previous year, contributing to further increasing the stocks.  

Not all regions are being equally hit, of course.  The imbalance between the available supply and demand is rather concentrated in certain regions and wines. The most affected are red and rosé wines from certain regions of France, Spain and Portugal, but other wines and/or Member States might encounter similar difficulties in certain production regions.

Too help affected producers, the EU announced that affected wine producers may distill wine most affected by the wine crisis.  The resuling alcohol may only be used for non-food purposes.