The European Union has proposed a radical overhaul of the continent's cherished wine industry, a move meant to ensure the survival of vintners hit hard in recent years by growing competition from Chile, the US, South Africa and others, reports the Napa Valley Register.

The EU plan foresees an end to restrictive and often confusing labeling rules for wines and winemaking practices to make it simpler for consumers to see what they are buying. It calls for winemakers to put on their label the grapes used in the wine, a labelling practice used by non-European producers, which has appealed to consumers.

The plan needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament before the reforms can be implemented. EU officials hope to have the reforms in place for the 2008 wine-growing season.

EU's Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, who drafted the measures, said European governments had to realise that decades-old practices of generous subsidies - which total some US$1.5 billion a year, 63% of which was used to prop up prices - had made wine producers complacent and out of touch with trends. They were flooding the market with too much wine that no one wants to buy.

For the complete story, go to www.napavalleyregister.com

( http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/06/29/business/local/iq_3487972.txt )