Lake Vintage

THE WINE CLUB

Do you fancy swimming in Sauvignon Blanc, bathing in bubbly, or even showering in Shiraz?

If you have been reading some of the stories, you'd know that we're in danger of drowning in a "wine lake".

"A not unpleasant fate," some might quip, but this is serious stuff, and is happening because the world's outflow (consumption) of wine has been significantly lower than the inflow (production) for some years now, leading to a build-up of surplus wine.

Broadly speaking, there is a worldwide surplus of about 6 billion litres of wine every year as wine production (29 billion litres) has been outstripping consumption.

The problem stems mainly in Europe, which is expected to have a surplus of some 4.6 billion litres; the situation is most acute in France, which produces about 5.5 billion litres, but consumes only 3.3 billion.

While the best French wines are superlative, the Languedoc-Roussillon region from the south of France produces large amounts of what can only be described as plonk.

Consequently French wines have been overtaken in many markets by better-quality and lower-priced wines from the New World, and have not yet been able to regain the lost ground.

"Where does all that wine go?" you might well ask. Well, most of the surplus wine gets distilled into brandy or even ethanol "" the EU spent 1.3 billion Euro (Rs 72,000 crore) in 2005 to subsidise the disposal of surplus wine and uprooting of vineyards.

Not that the new world is having a free wine lunch; Australia had a wine lake of 500 million litres last year, which is expected to grow to 800 million litres by end-2006. The Land of Oz will produce about 1.5 billion litres of wine this year, consume some 450 million and export about 750 million (where did you think all that Aussie wine flooding the retail shelves comes from?).

Argentina produces only a bit more wine than Australia but consumes over 1 billion litres, so again has a lot of wine available for export. And there's still Chile and South Africa to contend with.

"What does all this mean to me in India?" you query. For one, it indicates that nothing sells like quality "" and that consumers will always opt for better wines at a lower price over mere imagery, no matter how many years have been spent building that image.

For another, don't expect that a part of the wine lake will drain into India anytime soon: the government is unlikely to reduce the protectionist customs duties on imported wines, and the states will certainly not give up their own slice of the pie. And until prices come down, volumes are not going to go up.

But grab the opportunity to bring back some excellently-priced wines if you're travelling overseas this summer, particularly to the UK or continental Europe: the duty-free shops are full of "buy two take one free' offers, while a peek into speciality wine shops like Oddbins will give you an idea of the bargains available on wines, at prices ranging from $4 upwards.

As some say in Spain: "fill de puta qui no se l'acabi" (SOB he who does not finish the cup).

(al_chandra@vsnl.net)