Vinocap show in Cap d'Agde: Caux winemaker Pierre Quinonero says he is “happy to be able to count on Vinocap”

Pierre Quinonero fait le point sur la situation viticole actuelle. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

The 15th edition of the most important wine tourism fair in the south of France will take place from Thursday May 9 to Saturday May 11, on the quays of the Center-Port du Cap, where more than a hundred exhibitors are expected. . Until then, Midi Libre invites you to meet several of its actors. Today, Pierre Quinonero, winegrower of the Domaine de la Garance, in Caux and president of the Route des vignerons et des fishermen de l’agglo, takes stock of the agricultural crisis and the action taken by the show since the beginning.

Wine grower discontent, long latent, exploded at the very beginning of the year. What does this movement say ?

In my opinion, the causes are multiple. I am thinking of the price of energy for example. On my farm, the electricity bill has increased by two and a half. Same thing for fuel, the price of which has jumped. And this applies to us, but also to breeders, bakers, artisans.

The problem of an overflow, of administrative fed up is often addressed…

But we are dying of administration! When I hear the State announce that it wants to simplify the procedures, I wonder how it will do it: it’s so complex that no one knows where to start. And in your farm, instead of only thinking about the vines, the way you are going to make wine, you always have these administrative questions in the back of your mind.

At this point ?

You can imagine that in my mailbox, I receive training offers for 900 € the day to learn how to fill out grant applications correctly, it’s so complex ?

Subsidies were also discussed a lot in the responses provided by the State to peasant anger.

(Dubious) Generally, when you have people who want something, farmers in this case, we discredit them by immediately telling them about the subsidies they will receive. But these billions of euros in aid, I would like to know where they are going. Obviously, the big announcements don't trickle down to the bottom.

Another subject, the decline in wine consumption, observed not only in France, but also on a global scale.

We all feel this decline. The period is distressing, people go out to restaurants less for example and the drop in purchasing power is real for everyone. I come back to the price of energy, which is a strain on family budgets. On a global scale, there are also other issues. In Garance, I export 70% of my production to Taiwan and Japan. With attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, shipping companies are now avoiding the Suez Canal and preferring to tour Africa. For transport to Asia, but also Reunion, French Polynesia or New Caledonia, it costs $8,000 more per container. This is where you are happy to be able to count on a meeting like Vinocap: in three days, we will bring in a little money and sell many more bottles than if we stayed on our land !

In these conditions, developing the local market seems more necessary than ever.

The ideal is of course to diversify your markets, but that is easier said than done. I just see that locally, we are not yet efficient enough.

Expand.

Go to Corsica or simply to the Pyrénées-Orientales and take a photo of the wine list in the restaurants: there are almost only local productions. At home, even if a lot has been done, thanks to Vinocap in particular, we are not enough in “self-consumption”. We are missing this identity side.

Connecting local restaurateurs and wine growers is in the DNA of Vinocap…

Exactly. And I repeat, we have made a lot of progress on this point over the past 15 years. But I also regret that there are restaurateurs on the quays of Cap d’Agde who have never come to see us, to talk with the winegrowers! It’s an economic anomaly, for them and for us.