An update on the EU reform on fruit wines…great news for us Fruit Wine lovers…
EUROPE is on the verge of siding with vintners who say that alcohol made from apples and berries is just as much wine as that made from grapes, diplomats said yesterday.
Hot on the heels of a row over what constitutes vodka, the European Commission is grappling with another beverage battle over use of the word “wine” on labels.
Advert for The Scotsman Digital Archive
Makers of fruit wines, in particular Germany’s Apfelwein (apple wine) producers, are unhappy with proposals to restrict wine to grape beverages, as part of reforms of the bloc’s 1.3 billion (£905 million) wine industry.
“The commission will probably allow berries and apples to be included,” a European Union diplomat said. “It is unlikely to sacrifice the overall goal for such a small compromise.”
A spokesman for Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU’s agricultural minister, hinted that a deal might be struck before the end of the year.
Ms Fischer Boel wants to make sweeping changes to the EU’s bloated wine policy, offering big cash incentives to producers to dig up their vines and finally drain the lakes of surplus wine.