Austria seeks emergency action as red wine surplus grows

Austrian winegrowers are calling for emergency distillation of red wine into industrial alcohol, as international pressure on the red wine market is being felt by many local producers who are unable to sell a large proportion of their output. The Austrian Winegrowers' Association supports emergency distillation, under which wine would be processed into industrial alcohol, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reports.

The trend of more people choosing not to drink alcohol, which is particularly affecting red wine consumption, is becoming an increasingly serious problem for many winegrowers, as storage facilities are already running out of space, CE Report quotes BTA.

The red wine regions of Lower Austria are also feeling the effects, says Reinhard Zochmann, President of the Lower Austrian Winegrowers' Association. The province of Burgenland has also been affected.

Against this backdrop, the Austrian Winegrowers' Association is advocating for the emergency distillation of up to 10 million litres of red wine, whereby unsaleable products would be processed into industrial alcohol for use in medicine or in cleaning agents.

For the measure to be economically viable, an application to the European Union must be approved. In that case, emergency distillation would be supported with funding from an EU crisis fund for agriculture.

Similar applications have already been approved in France and Germany. Before submitting the application, the situation in Austria needs to be thoroughly assessed. The autumn harvest will be awaited to determine whether the surplus will amount to around 10 million litres.

Photo: Wikipedia