This week’s wine news: The French are furious over the alleged wine and cancer link, plus new EU rules for grape growing and plant-based wine bottles
• Who can blame them? The French wine business, which has a better sense of itself than we do in the U.S., has lashed out at the infamous wine and cancer study. The head of a French wine trade group called the study the same thing as declaring war on the wine business. The study, of course, is the infamous Lancet effort, which was later repudiated by another peer-reviewed report that called into question its defective math. Said the trade president: “Cancer is a disease caused by multiple factors. These are simplistic analyses… ,” adding that the same logic would prevent breathing, since the air is polluted.
• Different grapes? The European Union, which regulates grape growing for its member states, will allow countries to plant vines that will be better able to adapt to climate change. This is huge news, since it says it’s OK to plant something other than vitis vinifera, the traditional genus and species that includes chardonnay, merlot, and the like. Why is this such big news? It means that in regions like Bordeaux and Tuscany, where law – as well as centuries of tradition – only allow certain grapes to be grown, it’s now possible to plant new grapes.
• Goodbye glass? A new plant-based beverage bottle may bring the drinks industry one step closer to getting rid of glass. That’s the conclusion of the GlobalData consultancy, which says Suntory’s soft drink bottle for products sold in Japan and Europe “represents a step forward for the beverages industry towards the holy grail of biodegradable packaging,” Glass wine bottles, of course, have been under target for almost a year as one more cause of climate change. The Suntory bottles are made with what the company calls “bioplastic,” made from non-food biomass and non-food-grade feedstock. In other words, lots of garbage.