Wine producers do not toil for months so that their wine can be put to industrial uses. But that nonetheless will happen in France this year thanks to falling demand for wine among French drinkers, weaker sales in China, and greater competition in export markets.
With EU help, the French government plans to spend about $215 million to pay for “distillation aid,” as the Financial Times reported on Sunday, with most of the assistance going to the Bordeaux and Languedoc regions. The process involves distilling excess wine into ethanol, which can then be put to various industrial uses, including perfume, cleaning products, and the hydroalcoholic gel found in hand sanitizers.
