The State organizes a communication operation around the control of a wine merchant

Une opération de contrôles pour soutenir les viticulteurs tout en préservant l'anonymat des sociétés de négoce qui sont visitées. J.-P A. – Midi Libre

Ce jeudi 8 février s'est déroulé un contrôle des douanes et des services de la répression des fraudes dans les locaux d'un négociant en vins du Biterrois.

This Thursday morning, February 8, a customs and fraud prevention services inspection took place at a Biterrois wine merchant. From the outset, the rules for communicating this event were given to the media. No company name, no locations, no photos to recognize the company. "We hope that this control will be educational for the entire profession. We intend to respond to the wishes of winegrowers who denounce abuses and who expect more severity from our services, insisted François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the ;#39;Hérault. We will not give up and will carry out numerous operations of this type in numerous establishments. Traders, but also consumers must take a step, each at their own level to support viticulture."

Most control in offices

Although most of the control takes place away from the view of the cameras, in offices and on documents to verify the origin of the products and their quantity, the customs services still take samples. "We know how to determine the origin of the wines, but also whether there is any pollution thanks to advanced laboratory research techniques. According to the results we will know what all the tanks contain and thus check if everything is in line with the documents presented to the inspectors of the fraud prevention services, explained a customs agent.

The controls are good but…

"The controls are good, confirmed the owner of the building which is not that of the wine stored on site. But this will not solve the problem of wine growers who sell at a loss when this is supposedly not authorized. There, we control the bulk which will be bottled. Nothing better."

What the winegrowers contest is the "francization" some products. The lack of clarity for the consumer which puts Hérault winegrowers in direct competition with Spanish wines because local products are overwhelmingly produced with French wines and not with IGP or PDO. Of the 80 M€ promised by the State to defend the wine industry in France, the prefect of Hérault will have to distribute 13 million euros. Enough to give farmers a little breathing space. "But the problem will arise again next year. There is only one solution to definitively resolve the crisis. Ensuring that winegrowers make a living from their work. May wine no longer be sold at a loss. And we won't hear about all that again", added the owner of the controlled deposit.