Winegrowers, merchants and large retailers around the same table, at Béziers town hall: and after ?

La Grande distribution aura-t-elle compris le désarroi des viticulteurs ? Ville de Béziers

À la suite de l’opération “chariots gratuits” du 23 décembre dernier, le maire, Robert Ménard et la députée, Emmanuelle Ménard, ont organisé une réunion en mairie le 10 janvier pour établir un dialogue entre producteurs, négociants et grandes surfaces.

On December 23, around fifty angry wine growers wreaked havoc in Auchan Béziers then Leclerc Montimaran, organizing an operation “Free carts” at the checkout level. The objective of the demonstrators, as explained by one of them, Martial Bories, the president of the L’Occitane cellar, in Servian, was, among other things, to denounce purchasing price of Large Distribution (GD) "always falling".

A start of dialogue ?

Following this operation, Mayor Robert Ménard and MP Emmanuelle Ménard organized, on January 10, at the Béziers City Hall, a meeting bringing together, among others, directors or representatives of large-scale distribution. ;– Leclerc, Carrefour, Lidl, Système U, Intermarché, Aldi –, the prefect of Hérault, brokers, traders, the prefect François-Xavier Lauch and wine growers or producer representatives: Gérard Bancillon, president of the IGP France wine confederation, and four people for the L’Occitane wine cellar, including the president.

Note the absence of other cellars, cooperative or private, and of Auchan, which filed a complaint following the “chariots operation free”, as the prefect reminded us.

The reasons for anger

Deconsumption, lack of unity within the winegrower profession, EGAlim Law, foreign wines, particularly Spanish, environmental standards. Controversial topics were put on the table.

"This first meeting was positive in that it made it possible to point out the major difficulties facing wine growers, specifies the MP, with the result of a purchase price of wine which today no longer allows winegrowers to make a decent living from their work."

This is confirmed by René Vergnes, Vergnes diffusion broker. He explains: "For around ten years, the market had been consolidated. But last year, unscrupulous traders, speculators and outside the region placed contracts below the prices set at the start of the campaign. And broke the market. Some winegrowers, especially those in need of cash, have had to sell their wine at indecent prices."

Other elements, and not the least important, were also highlighted at the meeting of January 10: inflation, which no one could contest, and deconsumption: 29% of French people do not consume more wine,” explains Emmanuelle Ménard. "In 2023, we will have a 10% drop in consumption", continues René Vergnes.

"Too many wines"

"We must eliminate as much 2022 wine as possible, we still have the entire 2023 harvest in our cellars and we are six months away from the 2024 harvest! says the president of the L’Occitane cellar. Not to mention that buyers have familiarized consumers with wines from foreign grape varieties, particularly Spanish ones, to the detriment of French wines." He is not losing his temper.

"We ultimately only want one thing: to make a decent living from our profession, and not to be dependent on state aid. We understood, during the meeting, that wine-growing authorities impose environmental constraints on themselves that buyers and consumers have nothing to do with…hellip; However, they require enormous sacrifices from winegrowers because working is more and more expensive and wine is bought from us less and less expensively!"

In this regard, was highlighted on January 10, "the difficult dialogue between stakeholders in viticulture, with more than 80 unions and professional wine associations in France", indicates the MP. Results, as Martial Bories regrets in particular: "Viticulture does not fall within the system provided for by the EGAlim law (providing floor prices for farmers, Editor's note). While our authorities could decide to segment the market so that generic and mid-range wines, such as Pays d’Oc, are remunerated fairly and equitably."

The prefect, who began his intervention by expressing his disagreement with the means used by the winegrowers on December 23, undertook to raise the problems encountered by the winegrowers – distillation, deferred grubbing up and additional cash flow aid following the white year – at the Ministry of Agriculture.

As for the representatives of the GD, none responded to requests from Midi Libre to talk about the meeting. Faced with a possible new movement of anger from farmers, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau should move into the terrain of anger. For Hérault, he said he could come on February 2. I subscribe to read more