The war of the rosés is over. The European Commission announced today that it had abandoned its plans to allow European winemakers to make cheap rosé wine by mixing red and white wines together. The announcement follows a rearguard action by traditional producers in France and Italy who feared that their growing market for pink wine would be flooded by cheap imitations. The European agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, issued a statement saying that she had scrapped plans to lift restrictions on the way that rosé wine is made in the European Union. "It is important to heed our producers when they are worried about changes in regulations," she said. "It became clear in recent weeks that the majority in the wine industry believed that ending the ban on blending of wines would damage the image of traditional rosé."
The war of the rosés is over. The European Commission announced today that it had abandoned its plans to allow European winemakers to make cheap rosé wine by mixing red and white wines together.
The announcement follows a rearguard action by traditional producers in France and Italy who feared that their growing market for pink wine would be flooded by cheap imitations. The European agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, issued a statement saying that she had scrapped plans to lift restrictions on the way that rosé wine is made in the European Union.
"It is important to heed our producers when they are worried about changes in regulations," she said. "It became clear in recent weeks that the majority in the wine industry believed that ending the ban on blending of wines would damage the image of traditional rosé."
This is another* appalling sellout by the Commission to food industry lobbyists. Rosé wine is made by racking off the juice from the grapes before the skins and pips start colouring it darker red. It's a particular technique that produces a particular type of wine. It doesn't matter to me if people are willing to drink red and white mixed, that's their business and it might even be quite nice stuff if the wines used are right. But allowing the trade to call it rosé is just handing them easy marketing money on a shovel. Terms like these have evolved over generations of accumulated knowhow. The Commission is selling off Europe's birthright to a food industry that just wants more industrialisation, more processing, less regulation, more consumer ignorance. * after "chocolate" and now the new, liberal and relaxed "organic label". When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 04:27:11 PM EST [ Parent ]
It doesn't matter to me if people are willing to drink red and white mixed, that's their business and it might even be quite nice stuff if the wines used are right. But allowing the trade to call it rosé is just handing them easy marketing money on a shovel.
Terms like these have evolved over generations of accumulated knowhow. The Commission is selling off Europe's birthright to a food industry that just wants more industrialisation, more processing, less regulation, more consumer ignorance.
* after "chocolate" and now the new, liberal and relaxed "organic label". When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Apr 13th, 2009 at 04:27:11 PM EST [ Parent ]
