Farmers had until Wednesday to submit a request for aid in uprooting the vines, a system which should revive the market. It will not be the bloodletting feared in recent months.
Part of the vines will disappear, by the month of May, in our Languedoc landscapes, as in other wine-growing regions. But it will not be the bloodletting feared in recent weeks, a fear reinforced by a very low harvest which will plunge some winegrowers a little further into crisis. From Gard to the Pyrénées-Orientales, via Hérault and Aude, a total of 14,794 ha will ultimately be affected by this definitive grubbing up campaign, or 7.2% of the vineyards in the four departments. .
Explanations. At the beginning of October, the European Commission approved the opening of an envelope of €120 million in subsidies from the French state for wine growers affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine. This has indeed affected winegrowers, in particular due to the shortage of glass bottles manufactured by factories which have closed, the increase in production costs and disruptions in supply chains. The interest of this system seems twofold: by granting a bonus of €4,000 per hectare of vines definitively uprooted, the French State hopes to reduce the volume of national production and thus rebalance supply and demand to, mechanically , lead to a rise in wine prices.
Less than 30,000 ha…
A survey, carried out in the spring among professionals, pushed the executive to count on a potential of 37,500 ha of requests for definitive grubbing up and to budget this sum of €120 million. But the 2024 petit cru, an additional difficulty for a wine-growing world which did not need it, therefore raised fears of an explosion in demand, and consequently a very insufficient envelope. In Aude for example, also hit by drought, union leaders feared a loss of up to “25 %“vines.
The figures revealed by FranceAgriMer at the end of the declaration campaign are ultimately intended to be reassuring. “On the national territory, we had 5,417 requests for 27,453 ha, representing a need of €109.80 million. We are therefore within the objective set by the government”breathes Jérôme Despey, president of the Hérault Chamber of Agriculture and vice-president of the FNSEA. Among these files, 1,311, representing 8,600 hectares, indicated their desire to cease all agricultural activity. “These are often people close to retirement, who will therefore be able to benefit from these €4,000 per hectare. It is always heartbreaking to uproot vines, but for these farmers, it is a relief”. For the 4,106 other requests, the granting of this aid “results in the impossibility of obtaining replanting authorizations corresponding to the areas of vines uprooted, as well as the impossibility of obtaining authorizations for new plantings for the next six seasons”recalls FranceAgriMer.
In order: Aude, Gard, Hérault and P.-O.
In detail, it is still the Languedoc vineyard which is the most impacted, since the strongest demands are in Aude (999 files for 4,955 ha, or 8.4% of current vines), the Gard (716 files, 4,015 ha, 8.3%), Hérault (846 files, 3,211 ha, 4.2%) and Pyrénées-Orientales (458 files, 2,6213 ha, 14.1%). Only Gironde (695 requests for 4,219 ha) is included in this sad classification revealing difficulties. Jérôme Despey analyzes: “There are few surprises. We expected to see the strongest demand in regions dominated by red wine”a market which has suffered from consumer disaffection for several years.
Tarn and Vaucluse also cover more than 1,000 ha. “It is also the departments which suffer the climatic consequences, where the vines are dying, that we note the greatest number of requests”, adds Jérôme Despey, citing Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and western Hérault, an area particularly affected by a now recurring drought.
New requests
The difficulties of the profession do not disappear with these tens of thousands of hectares. Jérôme Despey has therefore already contacted the Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard. “I reminded him that initially, an envelope of €150 million had been planned for the grubbing up. The remaining €40 million (compared to the €110 million ultimately necessary, Editor’s note) must therefore be used to support the wine growers most in distress and to support cooperatives in restructuring projects. he said.
Above all, he wants to quickly go back into battle to negotiate a new device for uprooting the vines, but this one is temporary, “to encourage the reconversion of the vineyard and move towards wines that respond to today's market, fresher, dealcoholized for example”. Combative, Jérôme Despey. Because for him, you have to see the glass half full. “If we do not suffer the dreaded bloodletting with these permanent uprootings, it is because wine growers deeply want to continue their activity”. QED.
