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  Philippe Bouckenooghe

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  EU/US agreement

  Hi Giorgio, Christopher,
  
  In my opinion this agreement has got nothing to do with quality but everything to do with interests. For the european wine producers the USA is a very important market and vice versa.
  
  What is the fuss about? Because some say you can't chaptalize, others you can't water vineyards and others say you can't use woodchips. Everybody is protecting its own interests (this starts at appelation level) and it doesn't help the wine sector forward. Nor does it mean that this way the consumer will be better protected. Will stricter control on local level improve quality? I doubt it, as the small wine producers will be the first ones to suffer and the big companies will get away with it.
  
  What this trade agreement means to me is that we accept that we don't agree what the definition of wine is, or which winemaking techniques are accepted. However we agree that we disagree and continue the same way as before and avoid a trade war.
  
  Philippe
  
  • 27 Jan 2006, 10:07 am
  Philippe Bouckenooghe wrote: > Hi Giorgio, Christopher, > > In my opinion this agreement has got nothing to do with quality but > everything to do with interests. For the european wine producers the > USA is a very important market and vice versa. > > What is the fuss about? Because some say you can't chaptalize, others > you can't water vineyards and others say you can't use woodchips. > Everybody is protecting its own interests (this starts at appelation > level) and it doesn't help the wine sector forward. Nor does it mean > that this way the consumer will be better protected. Will stricter > control on local level improve quality? I doubt it, as the small wine > producers will be the first ones to suffer and the big companies will > get away with it. > > What this trade agreement means to me is that we accept that we don't > agree what the definition of wine is, or which winemaking techniques > are accepted. However we agree that we disagree and continue the same > way as before and avoid a trade war. > > Philippe