ThePortForum to be banned - in France...?

[djewesbury]

Proposed new laws on the advertising of wine in France may mean that this forum is no longer available to readers there!

These are the proposed measures:

- A ban on talking about wine on the internet and social networks. In France, the Evin law prohibits advertisements for wine. This law was passed 20 years ago and the internet is not mentioned. Now the government wants to ban one of the fundamental principles of human rights: the right of free expression.

- A ban on speaking positively about wine in the media. To praise wine and boost wine consumption, even moderate consumption, is already prohibited. But now, the specialists want to prohibit talking about wine in the media, including articles on wine tasting, rating notes and articles. In other words, JancisRobinson.com would no longer have the right to be published in France and neither wine producers nor merchants would have the right to pass any comments on this website on to their customers.

These first two reforms may be enacted as early as the first half of 2014.

[Alex Bridgeman]

This is very amusing. The cradle of wine production is no longer allowed to talk about its production. Why not go the whole step and introduce prohibition? Why pick only on wine? Or better still, why not follow the Quebec or Swedish model and only allow alcohol to be sold through a state monopoly whose profits can be ploughed back into unsustainable state benefits such as employing 80% of the workfoce and retiring them on full pensions at the age of 55.

By the way, I don't think any of what I've written above is true. It might be, but I just wanted to rant about state intervention in what should be a free market, (within acceptable boundaries that the state should impose).

[DRT]

I just wanted to rant about state intervention in what should be a free market

Quite right too.

I am told that my Clansmen north of the border have come up with an innovative solution to Kim-Jong Salmond's ban on reduced pricing for bulk purchases of alcohol. The downtrodden masses are unable to purchase "3 bottles of wine for £10", but are able to buy "3 bottles of wine for £3.33 each". Splendid.

[djewesbury]

To be honest this is so bonkers that I suspect there must be something else behind it (is the French equivalent of April Fool's Day in October?)
Apart from anything else the French wine lobby is so huge and so influential that it is amazing that these proposals survived long enough to be written down..