France To Spend €200m To Destroy Surplus Wine

The cash pot is made up of €160m in crisis distillation aid from the EU and topped up to €200m by French funding, which will be used mainly in the Bordeaux and Languedoc regions. It will enable surplus wine to be distilled into ethanol for industrial uses, including perfumes and hydro-alcoholic gels.

It comes as the latest set of data from the European Commission has revealed a big drop in wine consumption across the traditional wine growing and drinking heartlands of Europe, with falls of 7% in Italy, 10% in Spain, 15% in France, 22% in Germany and more than a third in Portugal.

But the decline has come as wine production rose 4%. Figures have suggested the wine industry in France would have a surplus of three million hectolitres this year.

The move is part of a wider proposal by the French government to help winegrowers and farmers adapt to falling demand in wine drinking, alongside competition from a growing export market and lower sales across China.

On a visit to a distillery last week, agriculture minister Marc Fesneau said farmers needed to “adapt to changes in consumption and adjust production to the demand of tomorrow” and find new sources of revenue.

The Drinks Business