French winemakers are gathering on Monday to discuss a growing crisis in the industry, and request help from the government in the face of ongoing pressures including climate change, US tariffs and falling wine consumption.
At the meeting in Montpellier with Minister of Agriculture, Anne Genevard, industry representatives are asking for €200 million in order to tackle the crisis in the sector linked to reduced wine consumption, increased environmental issues, foreign competition and rising tariffs.
The meeting comes after several thousands of winegrowers took to the streets of Béziers, southern France, demanding a rescue package in response to harvests affected by bad weather, rising costs and decreasing sales.
Despite already removing 27,000 hectares of unwanted vines last year, France’s 60,000 wine-growing estates are still producing too much wine.
In order to stabilise the sector, Jean-Marie Fabre, the president of the independent winemakers’ syndicate, speaking on France Inter, estimates that 40,000 hectares of vines will still have to be grubbed up in 2026.
“There are businesses that are going to resize their operations, making them much more viable by reducing the cultivation area and limiting it to what they are capable of producing, and above all – what they are capable of selling”, he said.
The crisis is particularly severe in areas that produce red wine, such as Languedoc, Aquitaine, Rhône, and Bordeaux, which have been affected by bad weather and increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves.
Meanwhile, new trade barriers have been imposed on European wines and spirits, now subject to a 15 percent tax when entering the United States.
“This measure penalises both French producers and their American partners,” explains Damien Dubrulle, president of Axema (The French Association of Industrial Players and Importers in the Agricultural Equipment and Green Spaces Sector), to local news outlet La Dépêche, warning of additional pressure on an already fragile industry.
Beijing also imposed a 32.2 percent customs tax on many imports of wine-based spirits from the EU in July, according to Le Monde. Only three major French companies – LVMH, Pernod Ricard and Rémy Cointreau – were exempted from the duty.
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