Wine. Market triage.
Europe has so much unsold wine it is turning it into hand sanitiser.
THE GIST ON WINE: "Europe's Wine Crisis"
What is happening to Europe's wine?
Across France, Spain and Italy, producers are sitting on huge backlogs they can't shift. Post-Covid, tariffs and Brexit have hit demand, and the vines don't stop producing. So governments are pushing crisis distillation: paying wineries to turn surplus wine into industrial alcohol and hand sanitiser.
Why destroy it?
This is market triage. When supply massively outweighs demand, prices don't just dip, they collapse. If everyone dumps the backlog at once, the independents go under first. Distilling the surplus is a pressure valve: you destroy the oversupply now to stop the whole market collapsing later.
What is the lesson?
A lesson in distribution and resilience. In a crunch, the heritage of your product is thrown out of the window and everything is just inventory. The ones who come through are the ones with the space and the money to survive.
Is destroying surplus wine sensible or wasteful?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What is crisis distillation?
Paying wineries to turn surplus wine into industrial alcohol and hand sanitiser.
Why not just sell it cheaply?
If everyone dumps the backlog at once, prices collapse and the independents go under first.
Who survives?
Those with the space and the money to wait it out.
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