Good wine is a terrible thing to waste. But sometimes even the French have no choice when the good stuff isn't selling. As painful as it surely must be in a country where the fruit of the vintner's labors is considered a fine art, wine makers are drowning in vats of surplus.

The worldwide glut has gotten so bad that for the first time in history French vineyards that produce wine several sniffs above the ordinary table brands are getting rid of it. They're distilling millions of bottles' worth of reds and whites into -- fuel. Mon Dieu!

By the end of this year hundreds of wine-makers will turn their mellow Merlots and crisp Chardonnays into crystal-clear ethanol, which will be sold to oil refineries for use as an additive for gasoline. France already uses about 1 percent ethanol in its gasoline, and that percentage is expected to rise to 5.75 percent in a few years to meet European Union demands for more use of renewable fuels.

The ruinous price decline of even top-shelf French wine will this year force millions of bottles' worth to become full-bodied gasoline at the tank. It could be the end of French civilization as we know it.

Instead of toasting the new year will motorists wonder how many miles per gallon the Gamay Beaujolais can deliver?