P.M. BRIEFING : U.S. Given Beaujolais Assurance
Beaujolais wine growers have sent U.S. authorities assurances that their popular, status-symbol wine is virtually free of a fungicide banned in the United States, French government officials said today.
The assurances, contained in a survey of about 400 vintners, are expected to open the door to exports of the fruity Beaujolais nouveau wine to the United States next month.
Earlier this year, Washington slapped a ban on imports of wine containing the fungicide procymidone, used in almost all wine-making countries but outlawed in the United States.
Vintners, who sold $15-million worth of Beaujolais nouveau to the United States last year, were worried the ban would cut off their sales this autumn. Beaujolais nouveau, or “new” Beaujolais, is the most popular young wine.
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