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> or wine interests. As an American, we are well familiar with Big Pharma but the wine lobby? Is that really a thing in Europe? How influential are they around

• hocuspocus 4y ago
  They definitely have some weight. For instance in a few countries they fight campaigns like Dry January. Fun fact: one hundred years ago the wine lobby successfully killed absinthe using bogus scientific claims, and today Pernod Ricard are on their side of the lobbying.
• cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  France: "Wine growing makes up 15% of France's agricultural revenues while accounting for only 3% of the land area used." "France consumes over 30 million hectoliters of wine (14% of global output) every year, making it one of the world’s largest consumers alongside the United States and Italy. The average French person consumes 48 liters of wine a year. (larvf.com)" Source: https://www.businessfrance.fr/Media/Default/PROCOM/Kits/Agroalimentaire/Business_France-Wine_Industry.pdf https://www.businessfrance.fr/Media/Default/PROCOM/Kits/Agro... Germany: "When calculated per German citizen, this corresponds to an average consumption of still and sparkling wines of 23.4 liters annually per person. Of this wine, 8.7 liters are domestic still wines, 11.4 liters are foreign still wines and 3.3 liters are sparkling wines." Source: https://blog.drinktec.com/wine/german-wine-consumption-and-production/ https://blog.drinktec.com/wine/german-wine-consumption-and-p... It's hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and a massive employer. Unlike other agriculture products, the margins on wine are very high.