Word: fischer
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Even now, it's not all wine and roses. Vintage Wine Trust, a private REIT formed in San Rafael, Calif., in January 2005, is already looking at alternatives to taking the company public. Chief financial officer Tamara Fischer says finding buyout targets and persuading wineries to sell through sale-leasebacks have been tougher than expected. "We thought we'd have $300 million invested in 18 months," she says. "But at 28 months, we only have $165 million...
...have been pouring taxpayers' money into distillation schemes [to convert unsold wine to industrial alcohol] while New World wine-producers have been running rings round us," E.U. Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said last week. "Clearly, we must take a different approach to helping Europe's excellent wines punch their weight around the world more consistently...
...Fischer Boel hopes to address this by encouraging uncompetitive farmers to leave the industry "with dignity." Her proposals will also scrap a quota system that prevents young farmers from planting new, higher-quality grape varieties. The Commission wants the E.U. to change labeling rules to allow grape names such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon to be printed on all bottles rather than only on wines that are recognized as high quality. And it will call for a budget of $580 million for the 2008-2009 season to reimburse farmers to "grub up," or rip out, 400,000 acres of vines...
...most controversial measures expected from the European Commission is the proposal to ban the use of sugar, which has been used for centuries to increase the alcoholic strength for labels such as Champagne. Fischer Boel wants winemakers to use unfermented grape juice instead, a move that would use some of the continent's excess capacity - even if it costs three times as much as using sugar...
Previous attempts at reform, however, have been met with hostility by the governments of Europe's wine-producing countries. And in the face of the inevitable backlash, the question is whether Fischer Boel will be able to drain the lake, or merely decant...