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 ]
UN negotiators at Bonn consider micro-insurance schemes among adaptation measures for Africa, Asia and Latin AmericaFor more than half a million farmers in rural India the age old fear of crops failing due to bad weather could soon be banished, thanks to an innovative insurance scheme that UN negotiators gathering in Bonn this week are considering as a central component of climate change adaptation measures in Africa, Asia and Latin America.Following a successful trial last month, MicroEnsure, a company specialising in providing insurance to poor communities, plans to launch a scheme next year for up to 600,000 farmers in India's Kolhapur province allowing them to insure against their rice crops failing due to drought or heavy rains during the plants' flowering period.Chief executive Richard Leftley said micro-insurance policies -- so-called because of their relatively low premiums -- will be offered to farmers with loans from the local Kolhapur District Cooperative Bank.
For more than half a million farmers in rural India the age old fear of crops failing due to bad weather could soon be banished, thanks to an innovative insurance scheme that UN negotiators gathering in Bonn this week are considering as a central component of climate change adaptation measures in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Following a successful trial last month, MicroEnsure, a company specialising in providing insurance to poor communities, plans to launch a scheme next year for up to 600,000 farmers in India's Kolhapur province allowing them to insure against their rice crops failing due to drought or heavy rains during the plants' flowering period.
Chief executive Richard Leftley said micro-insurance policies -- so
-called because of their relatively low premiums -- will be offered to farmers with loans from the local Kolhapur District Cooperative Bank.
The Brazilian government is legalising deforestation and western superbrands are benefiting from it. This needs to stop nowBrazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, writing in the Guardian in March, offered us these words of hope: "No country has a larger stake in reversing the impact of global warming than Brazil. That is why it is at the forefront of efforts to come up with solutions that preserve our common future." Lula's words are fine. But we are still waiting for real action.For the last 10 years, Greenpeace has been working in the Amazon alongside communities to protect the rainforest. Last week, Greenpeace released a report which was the result of a three-year investigation into the role of the cattle industry in driving illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The report, Slaughtering the Amazon, reveals the devastating impacts cattle ranching is having on the climate, biodiversity and local communities.Cattle ranching is the biggest cause of deforestation, not only in the Amazon, but worldwide. The report reveals that the Brazilian government is a silent partner in these crimes by providing loans to and holding shares in the three biggest players - Bertin, JBS and Marfrig - that are driving expansion into the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, writing in the Guardian in March, offered us these words of hope: "No country has a larger stake in reversing the impact of global warming than Brazil. That is why it is at the forefront of efforts to come up with solutions that preserve our common future." Lula's words are fine. But we are still waiting for real action.
For the last 10 years, Greenpeace has been working in the Amazon alongside communities to protect the rainforest. Last week, Greenpeace released a report which was the result of a three-year investigation into the role of the cattle industry in driving illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The report, Slaughtering the Amazon, reveals the devastating impacts cattle ranching is having on the climate, biodiversity and local communities.
Cattle ranching is the biggest cause of deforestation, not only in the Amazon, but worldwide. The report reveals that the Brazilian government is a silent partner in these crimes by providing loans to and holding shares in the three biggest players - Bertin, JBS and Marfrig - that are driving expansion into the Amazon rainforest.
