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Bordeaux agrees fund to pull up thousands of hectares of vineyards

06 March 2023 By Christian Smith

The Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) has confirmed that the French government has agreed a funding deal that will see winemakers helped to pull up thousands of hectares of vineyards.

According to figures from the CIVB, Bordeaux had roughly 108,000 hectares of vines in 2022. It said that the newly-agreed financing will allow some 9,500 hectares to be pulled up in Girone. The funding package totals €57 million, with €38 million provided by the government and the remainder financed by the CIVB subject to board approval.

“We estimate that we’re facing annual overproduction of 300,000hl [40m bottles], to which must be added 200,000hl sold at unremunerative prices,” CIVB president Allan Sichel said last year.

The CIVB believes that pulling up roughly 10% of its vines will put the region back on a sustainable path.

Earlier this year, vignerons in Bordeaux called for strikes to highlight the pressures facing winegrowers in the region. Much of the focus of these strikes surrounded help for excess vine grubbing up and the storage of wines that had failed to find buyers.

Last month, a survey conducted by Gironde’s chamber of agriculture found that one third of the region’s winemakers were facing financial difficulty.

The French government has also announced financial help for winemakers across the country, with €160 million being allocated to turn excess wine into industrial alcohol.

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