Why are winemakers protesting in Bordeaux?

The largest winemaking protests for decades took place in Bordeaux this week, with over 1,000 winemakers from around the region driving their tractors into the city centre, and marching along the quays of the Garonne riverfront.

But what are they protesting, and will they get what they want?

• Prices for bulk ‘vrac’ Bordeaux have collapsed over recent years – 900 litres of wine that would reach upwards of €1,000 a few years ago are now closer to €600.
• This is not new, to be honest, with prices sliding for years, but Covid exacerbated the problem, and production costs are increasing rapidly with higher inflation and rising prices for bottles, capsules, corks, transport and energy.
• The Chinese market, which took much of the medium to lower priced Bordeaux, has retracted hugely, driven by the Zero Covid policy, by President Xi’s hardline policies and by an overall drop in consumer demand and consumption of wine.
• Wine consumption even in France has been dropping, with figures released this month showing that the consumption of red wine had dropped by 32% between 2011 and 2021.
• Increasing gaps in land prices between appellations is making it harder and harder for the smaller appellations to survive – but also impacting less wealthy families in the bigger appellations, as passing on land to the next generation becomes more complicated.
• Climate chaos has seen a rise in severe periods of frost, hail and mildew which have further impacted on yields and morale.

‘To say that we have to put an end to a vineyard that we have spent 20 years developing is heartbreaking of course,’ Bastien Mercier, winemaker and mayor of the commune of Camiran, told tv station France 24 this week. ‘But we are dependent on a market, and either we have to react, or we are heading to a very serious difficulties’.

The winemakers are looking for government aids of €10,000 per hectare to pull up vines, with the hope of bringing the overall footprint of Bordeaux vines down from 110,000ha overall, to 100,000ha – so losing 10% of the overall size of the region’s vineyards.

What happens now?
The president of the CIVB, Allan Sichel, has signalled that he is behind the winemakers, and agrees with their demands. He has been working with the French Minister of Agriculture to try to address the issue, and says the CIVB estimates the issue to cover:

• A plan needs to be put in place to look at how practically to uproot 10 000ha of vines, 10% of the surface area – the questions that arise are where should these vines be located, how will the uprooting be financed, and what happens to the land afterwards.
• Around 500 winemakers are in financial difficulties, again around 10% of the overall number of producers, and many of these need immediate assistance, and are not able to wait for the 12 months that is likely to be needed for the uprooting plan.
• A wine surplus, in terms of supply and demand, again of around 10% of overall production, also needs to be dealt with, with a focus also on reaching other markets besides China, and longer term plans to help stimulate demand across not just reds but the many rosés, whites, sweet and sparkling Bordeaux.
• There is a potential to convert vineyard land into other forms of agriculture, therefore increasing also biodiversity across the region, or perhaps for planting trees as a carbon sink, so forming part of the overall strategy for reducing the carbon footprint of Bordeaux wine. Using the land for solar panels could also be an option.
• If converting vineyard land into land for building houses, there is no need for a subsidy, as this will be a commercial enterprise.
• Many of the solutions, and finance, will have to come at a European level, as this is a problem impacting many wine regions across the continent.