The largest quantity of wine headed for distillation was recorded in Heraklion, Crete, according to the data published by the Central Cooperative Union of Wine Products.
During the first announcement for the implementation of the crisis distillation scheme, the prefecture of Heraklion had requested the distillation of a total volume of 51,631 kiloliters of wine, while in the second cycle they requested an additional volume of 44,007 kiloliters. It is worth noting that the 95,638 kiloliters in total coming from Heraklion, Crete, constitute 28.09% of the total volume allocated to crisis distillation, which amounts to 340,428 kiloliters of wine. In second place is the prefecture of Corinth with 77,079 kiloliters (22.64% of total volume) whose wineries submitted applications for an additional 17,003 kiloliters, while rounding up the top three is the prefecture of Achaia with a total of 30,376 kiloliters.
The Central Cooperative Union of Wine Products estimates that “the low compensation prices for the distillation of wine without Geographical Indication and PGI wines, prevented many wineries from choosing the crisis distillation scheme”.
According to data collected by the Union, during the second cycle of the crisis distillation scheme, an additional 80,409 kiloliters were approved, raising the total volume to 340,428.04 kiloliters. Of these, 67.8% concern wines without Geographical Indication, 16.63% PGI wines, 7.81% PDO wines and 7.76% sweet wines. The distillation cost amounts to €20,503,319 from the budgeted amount of €25,000,000.
