The French use wine to wash their hands.

FranceAgriMer, the French government's agricultural office, said that around 300 million liters of wine will need to be processed this year, as orders from around the world have plummeted as bars and restaurants have been forced to close due to lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Trước đó, lượng xuất khẩu rượu vang sang Mỹ đã giảm một nửa sau khi chính quyền ông Trump áp thuế 25% đối với dòng sản phẩm này từ châu Âu — Previously, wine exports to the US were halved after the Trump administration imposed a 25% tax on this product line from Europe.

According to FranceAgriMer, from June 5, 33 distilleries nationwide will be authorized to buy more than 200 million liters of wine inventory to convert into ethanol or hand sanitizer, to free them from winemakers' warehouses. The French agricultural office confirmed that this special measure has been approved by the EU and that the EU will finance the conversion.

Winemakers need to register for the program by June 19 and indicate how much wine they want to convert into alcohol. For every 100 liters of wine entered into the program, farmers will receive a subsidy of 78 euros for wines from a specific region, and 58 euros for wines not linked to a particular region.

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Cồn được sản xuất từ quá trình chưng cất rượu vang sau đó sẽ được sử dụng bởi ngành công nghiệp dược phẩm và mỹ phẩm để sản xuất gel khử trùng hoặc nước rửa tay — The alcohol produced from the wine distillation process is then used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries to produce disinfectant gels or hand sanitizers.

Under no circumstances will the distillate be reused to produce another wine, said Didier Josso, head of wine management at FranceAgriMer.

Bordeaux and Champagne have been the two wine regions hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis. Winemakers in Burgundy have been less severely affected, but have had just one full vintage in the past four years, following extreme weather events including hail in 2016, frost in 2017 and drought in 2019.

Italian winemakers are also considering a plan to turn unsold wine into hand sanitizer. Last month, the country’s agricultural unions asked the government to authorize and fund the plan, which they said would buy 150 million to 200 million liters of unsold wine.

In Spain, sherry producer González-Byass has also produced 5,000 liters of hand sanitizer for hospitals, medical facilities and the Red Cross.