What Most People Don't Know About French Wine

The global wine crisis of falling demand is hitting hard in Europe, particularly France, where the government has launched a pay-out scheme to encourage wine makers simply to make less wine.

The EU-backed scheme, launched in January, hopes to see 32,500 hectares of vineyards uprooted by 2026. Backed by a budget of €130 million, the programme offers €4,000 per hectare to winegrowers who agree to permanently remove their vines.

“This is a global crisis,” said Mike Veseth, a retired economics professor at the University of Puget Sound in the US, who runs the blog The Wine Economist and has authored several books on the global wine industry.