Red alert on the Bordeaux and Languedoc vineyards! Once again, the crisis siren has been triggered. A call for help heard by the government which, on Monday, February 6, sketched out the main lines of a support plan for these wine-growing regions shaken by a crisis of overproduction.
The State first undertakes to provide assistance in an attempt to mop up the surplus wine which stagnates in the vats. The idea is to finance the distillation of wine to transform it into alcohol (pharmaceutical or food). “ We estimate the total volume of wine to be distilled at 2.5 million, or even 3 million hectolitres”says Jérôme Despey, winegrower in Hérault and general secretary of the FNSEA union, who details the breakdown by large basins: “ That is nearly 1.5 million hectoliters for Languedoc, around 700,000 hectoliters for Bordeaux, the rest being distributed mainly between the Rhône valley and the South-East. »
Professionals demanded for this purification of stocks, mainly reds but also rosés, an envelope of 200 million euros. Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau has so far promised a check for 160 million euros. The State had disbursed an equivalent amount for a similar distillation operation, barely three years ago.
Sharp drop in retail sales
In 2020, the wine sector suffered the effects of the Trump tax penalizing wine exports to the United States. Above all, she was shaken by the crisis linked to Covid-19. The containment measures, the closure of bars and restaurants and the cessation of the flow of foreign tourists had caused sales to plunge for a time. Here again, Languedoc was well ahead of the requests for distillation, followed by Aquitaine.
This time, the professionals evoke the deconsumption of red wine in France. A trend that is part of a history of more than half a century. The sharp drop in retail sales in 2022, estimated at between 10% and 15%, has contributed to destabilizing the market. This is the case for Bordeaux, which sells more than half of its volumes in the big brands. This region has also been hit hard by the drop in sales on the Chinese market, its first export zone since 2015. “In 2022, the decline in exports to China is 25% to 30%”specifies Bernard Farges, president of the national Committee of the interprofessions with wines of controlled appellations.
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