It is always striking to note how people rush to Brussels and to our national capital cities to satisfy appetites for trade. The story of rosé wine, which will soon be produced by blending red and white wines is the latest example. Rosé, of course, is usually a wine made from black grapes which has not been coloured by the pigments in the grape skins and not undergone a second (malolactic) fermentation. There are, however, variations from one winemaking region to another. The only exception on French soil is pink champagne which is produced by blending, though this makes reasonable sense in a region where wine is often made from mixtures of white and black grapes. In other regions, extending the fermentation period or a second fermentation have been tried to improve the quality of the product, but never resorting to the technique of blending that is allowed in Australia and the United States. Yet France, Italy and Spain produce almost 80% of all the world's rosé. So what can be the justification for this change in rules which turns tradition on its head? Citizens who will be called on to vote between 4 and 7 June just cannot understand this alignment with practices from elsewhere, as the reaction of one reader of the regional daily L'Alsace bears witness: “Ultimately, I agree with the technocrats in Brussels. I am going to make my own rosé. Blending red and white wine is not such a stupid idea! And it gives me other ideas. I will blend red wine and water, and that will give me rosé, too! And just think; it will be less harmful to health. After a fine meal at the restaurant, there will be no need to check blood/alcohol levels, everyone will be able to drink at least five glasses, no problem. Well done, the technocrats! Paying them several thousand euro per month to come up with ideas like think is enough to make one weep. I can hardly wait to see what they will come up with next: maybe camembert could be made from half cheese, half plaster. But I have a better idea: let's try to make their fantastic salaries half minimum wage, half unpaid voluntary work. I am sure they wouldn't mind”.This inhabitant of Soultzmatt, where water and wine are produced, is right to be up in arms. The “technocrats” did, indeed, come up with this terrible idea, but it is not they who will make the final decision. In preliminary voting in the management committee, only Italy and Greece opposed blending wines from different regions. No one said anything about blending. The practice may still be blocked, but, for that to happen, France and the other producer countries will have to find a qualified majority against it in the final vote due on 19 June. (O.J.)