France: The Grapes of Wrath

The harvest is only a week or two off in the wine country of Southern France — and this year it promises to be a harvest of discontent. The French manage to drink 1.6 billion gallons of wine each year, but last year’s record harvest of 1.9 billion gallons was too much even for them. One-third of it still rests unsold in the vats, forcing down prices and in some places making storage space for the new wine scarce. Since this year’s harvest is expected to be fairly bountiful, the problem of oversupply has caused an economic crisis.

Hardest hit when the new crop comes in will be the wine growers of the Midi, who supply most of the vintageless vin ordinaire that sells in France for about 250 a bottle (and is often mixed with Algerian wine to raise its alcoholic content). The South’s worried farmers are demanding that the government bar all imports, even from Algeria, and buy up last year’s surplus, perhaps to turn it into industrial alcohol. But Paris does not want to spend the money, and is treaty-bound to buy all the wine that independent Algeria can produce. Angered, the French farmers have sabotaged phone and power lines, blocked railway signals, barricaded the highways. When the new wine starts coming in, Southern France is likely to be in pandemonium.

The sad fact is that 1963 will be a wretched year for wine lovers as well as for the farmers. August in Europe has been one of the wettest on record, and quality is bound to suffer. Instead of ripening under a beneficent sun, the grapes all over France are mildewing on the vine.