Not a Good Thing

When is too much of a good thing, not a good thing?

Many argue that French wine is the best in the world. Californian, Italian, and Spanish vintners beg to differ. South American and Australian wines are well worth the price. Then there are Pennsylvania wines at rock-bottom prices here in the Keystone State that aren’t even worth the return price on the bottles that they come in. Still, everyone agrees that French wine is, as Martha Stewart would say, “a good thing”.

Most French wine is consumed, you guessed it, in France. Each French citizen drank 136 liters of the stuff in 1926. Wine generally comes in 750 ml bottles. Each Frenchman put away 180 bottles of wine that year or one every two days. No wonder the Germans had such an easy time conquering them in 1940.

Tastes change with the times. Last year wine consumption in France was a mere 40 liters per person. That bottle of wine now takes, on the average, six days to polish off. Are the French drinking Twisted Tea, White Claw, or some other trendy drink with their cheese in 2023?

French cellars were awash in unsold wine this summer even before the upcoming fall harvest. The French government appropriated $216 million to distill that unwanted “vin” into pure alcohol to be used in hand sanitizers and disinfectants. “Madame, your hands have hints of strawberry, cardamon, and an oaky finish. Is your hand sanitizer a 2022 Chateauneuf du Pape?”

80 million gallons of fine French wine will be destroyed this year. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

By Ed Dufton