Soviet Vineyards Torn Out, Causing Shortage of Wine
Vast sections of vineyards have been torn out in the wake of an anti-alcohol drive over the last three years, and some Soviet wine-growers have been forced to feed their produce to animals, the daily newspaper Trud said Thursday.
Lamenting an acute shortage of wine throughout the country, Trud said: “It is not viticulture that has made drunkards of the people, but lack of culture, social conditions.”
The anti-alcohol campaign, launched by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev five years ago, led to a boom in illegal home brewing and cost the state up to $25 billion a year in lost income.
According to statistics gathered by a group of Soviet parliamentary deputies, vineyards in 1985 covered 3.5 million acres. The paper said more than a fourth of this area had been lost in the past three seasons.
In the face of widespread discontent and a run on sugar for making moonshine, the anti-alcohol campaign was relaxed this year and production is rising again. But Trud said it will take years to restore output.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
