French Winemakers Hold Crisis Meeting
France's agriculture minister pledged Wednesday to inject more money into the promotion of French wines as the industry braces for a new dilemma: a bumper harvest.

After meeting with winemakers, Herve Gaymard announced plans for a 50 percent increase in public funding just two days after his ministry forecast that the country will produce 1.5 billion gallons of wine in 2004 — 20 percent more than last year. Production was hurt last year by a record-breaking heat wave that scorched Europe.

For an industry that's already overproducing, a good harvest can be bad news. MORE>