Viticulture: the prefect of Hérault raises his voice against misleading commercial practices

The prefect of Hérault surrounded by his department heads, customs, the DDTM, the DDPP and the Drets. FREE MIDI – Mickael ESDOURRUBAILH

François-Xavier Lauch, warned wine merchants and representatives of large and medium-sized stores this Wednesday, February 21 at the prefecture: "Controls will tighten up”, he assured.

"Controls will tighten", "sanctions will fall ", "deceptive commercial practices are unacceptable in the face of a wine world in great suffering"… François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Hérault, was clear and banged his fist on the table to put an end to fraud, small or large, which harms the sale of wine from local winegrowers.

The State representative brought together representatives of the Languedoc wine industry this Wednesday, February 21, but had in his sights the wine merchants and the wine merchants. representatives of large and medium-sized stores. "We increased the number of inspections in supermarkets at the start of 2024 and a third of these inspections revealed practices that do not comply with regulations. I say it, we have a problem", explained François-Xavier Lauch.

Stop misleading consumers

Checks at a very sustained pace. 45 in the last two weeks when it usually takes 4 months  to make them. Suffice to say that all state services are on deck. 

Supporting evidence, the prefect has multiplied the examples of non-compliance with the rules "which will contribute to misleading the consumer&quot ;. Poor positioning of foreign wines among French wines, foreign wines under a banner: "Here, we like local", labeling misleading, suggesting that the wine, bottled in France, is produced in France… 

The prefect will write to all large and medium-sized stores

The prefect also warned restaurateurs and the naming defects: "I remind you that selling a pitcher of wine in a restaurant without saying anything is wrong. where it comes from is not legal", he noted, promising to bring together professionals to explain the problem to them. 

François-Xavier Lauch also gave examples of the origin of fruits and vegetables, with supporting photos. But it is this Thursday, February 22 from Toulouse, that the prefect of Haute-Garonne will give the same overview on the agricultural sector excluding viticulture. To point out again the large stores not really happy to find themselves in the dock: "As I am having a lot of trouble getting them together I am going to write to them individually . To teach, but also to remind them that we were going to strengthen controls". And the sanctions, if applicable!

The reminder of aid 

During a press conference, the Hérault prefect recalled all the aid granted to wine growers "including two very important ones which were decided in our department, during the visit of Marc Fesneau", he recalled. Concerning the emergency fund of 80 M€, of which 13 M€ for Hérault winegrowers, the prefect underlined that 1142 files had been submitted and that the first payments had been made.

The distillation aid of 12 M€ and the reductions in charges, the elimination of taxation on non-road diesel… have only one ambition: "To allow, perhaps with the Egalim law 4" that the Prime Minister wants to rewrite "that winegrowers can sell at the right price, when a third of our winegrowers sell a third below their production price. A little something to appease winegrower anger which will not fail to manifest itself during the Agricultural Show which opens this Saturday in Paris. 

I subscribe to read more