In order to respond to the overproduction of wine in Gironde and to help the reconversion of wine growers, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region launched, on June 5, in this department a plan to uproot vines against financial assistance. Candidates have until the end of September to submit a file, for operations which will begin in the fall, after the harvest. The first compensation payments – 6,000 euros per hectare – are expected at the end of 2023.
Winegrowers have the choice between two uprooting systems, for a total planned area of 9,500 hectares. That of the State, endowed with 38 million euros, obliges the winegrower to leave his land fallow for twenty years or to reforest it. That of the region and the Bordeaux Interprofessional Wine Council (CIVB), amounting to 19 million euros, implies that the winegrower replaces the vine with another agricultural activity: cereal cultivation, breeding, etc.
First ” surprise “, confides Bernard Farges, vice-president of the CIVB: there are already very many candidates, a thousand, which shows the extent of the difficulties of the Bordeaux vineyards. Most offer partial grubbing up (only a third want to withdraw from wine) and sell bottles at a price of less than 10 euros – the opposite of the hundred or two hundred prestigious estates. “These properties are located first in the Entre-deux-Mers area, then in the Côtes, in the Blayais and Libournais sectors, but also around Cadillac and Langon”explains Bernard Farges.
“More flexibility is needed”
The high number of candidates for grubbing up raises several difficulties. They already represent 9,300 hectares, and it is likely that, within a few weeks, others will follow, for a total area to be harvested which will then greatly exceed the set objective. In this case, the first registered will have priority. For latecomers, there will be uncertainty. Another problem: if 50% of applicants want to reforest, while the other half want to diversify, the compensation plan largely favors the former.
Didier Cousiney, spokesperson for the Viti 33 collective, deplores an insufficient and unsuitable system. It calls for an expansion to 15,000 hectares and free choice for wine growers between fallowing and diversification. He also wants the premium to increase from 6,000 to 10,000 euros per hectare uprooted and that the envelopes of the region and the State be rebalanced. “We don’t criticize everythinghe explains, but we need more flexibility and a larger envelope, otherwise first come will be first served, and many will not receive 6,000 euros per hectare. »
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