EU Plan to Drain Wine Lake Branded 'A Betrayal of Tradition to Capitalism' ; EUROPE

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Brussels has proposed the destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres of European vineyards in an attempt to drain the EU "wine lake" and reconquer markets lost to the New World.

In proposals which will be hotly disputed in wine-producing countries from France to Bulgaria, Brussels wants to pay producers of unsaleable wines to "grub up" their old vines. And from 2013, national restrictions on the planting of different varieties of vines would be lifted to encourage "competitive" growers to shift to types of wine more in demand from consumers. The practice of "sugaring" immature wines or -chaptalisation - which increases yield and strength in more northerly vineyards …