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Harvest in France (photo from autumn 2013): what to do with the grapes?
Photo: Guillaume Horcajuelo / dpa
In view of sales problems with wine, France is taking excess quantities off the market via a distillation program.
In the current year, 160 million euros in grants from the state and the European Union are to be made available, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in Paris.
The alcohol distilled from the wine during the measure can be used to produce disinfectants, perfume or bioethanol.
In particular, it is about red wine from the Bordeaux region, where winegrowers complain about structural overproduction and demand set-aside premiums to uproot the vines on part of the area.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced help for the region.
The Languedoc and Rhône valley regions are also affected to a lesser extent.
In the long term, France's wine sector will have to adapt to the necessary adjustments to climate change and to changing domestic and export demand, the Ministry of Agriculture announced.
The government will help create a strategy.
According to the newspaper »Les Echos«, 2.5 million hectoliters of red wine of all quality types are to be withdrawn from the market as part of the distillation program.
As a reason for the sales problems, the winegrowers cited a declining consumption of red wine by the French.
Inflation is also given as a reason, in 2022 sales via supermarkets fell by 15 percent.
Exports to China also collapsed due to the corona crisis.
mic/dpa
