France will uproot 27,500 hectares of vineyards to combat oversupply crisis

Last month, France’s agriculture ministry unveiled a plan to pull up 30,000 hectares in a bid to tackle a significant supply-demand imbalance.

The government offered to pay grape growers €4,000 for each hectare (ha) they uproot, and it earmarked €120m for the scheme.

The window for applications has now closed, and the ministry revealed that 5,418 growers have agreed to pull up their vines.

In total, these vignerons will pull up 27,461ha of vineyards across the country. They will be paid €109.8m in compensation, on the proviso that they cannot replant vines on the land until 2029 at the earliest.

The ministry revealed that 1,300 of the growers plan to ‘completely stop their activity’ and pursue new ventures instead. These total shutdown requests concern nearly 8,700ha.

Now that the window for applications has closed, the grape growers can begin grubbing up their vines. They must complete the uprooting process by 2 June 2025 at the latest, and they can then submit a request for payment of the aid requested.

This uprooting scheme was devised as a response to a mounting supply-demand imbalance, which was caused by declining wine consumption rates.

Figures from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) show that wine production outstripped demand by 10% in 2023.

The 2024 harvest will be significantly smaller after heavy rain, hail, frost and mildew hit vineyards across France, but that will not be enough to tackle the oversupply issue.

Data from the Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) show that the average French adult consumed 120 litres of wine per year in the 1960s. That has dropped to just 40 litres today, and the trend shows no signs of reversing.

French growers can no longer rely on surging exports to make up the shortfall, as consumption levels are declining on a global basis. French wine exports decreased 9.4% last year.

The government has therefore decided to reduce supply in a bid to stabilise prices. France currently has around 800,000 ha under vine, so the scheme will reduce the country’s total hectarage by 3.43%.

France’s agriculture ministry stated that the plan was also a response to ‘the difficulties economic conditions of wine-growing structures affected by the consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine’.