They demand purchase prices “which take into account production costs”.
Around a hundred wine growers and around thirty tractors blocked access to the warehouses of Castel Frères, a global wine trading giant, this Wednesday morning near Bordeaux (Gironde).
Gathered at the call of the agricultural unions FNSEA 33, the Gironde branch of the National Federation of Farmers' Unions, and Young Farmers (JA), the demonstrators dumped manure, hay, tires and vine stocks in front of the entrance to the Blanquefort site, considered the largest winery in Europe.
Winegrowers want to warn about “market and bulk prices which are clearly below cost prices and destructive of farms”, indicates Vincent Bougès, president of JA in Gironde.
According to him, "with one more campaign at this price level, we will continue to complete the sector", while the Bordeaux vineyard, the largest AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) vineyard in France with 110,000 hectares, is faced with to an overproduction crisis for several years.
“It’s the entire system that is targeted”
Historic branch of the Castel group, a global giant in alcohol trading founded by Pierre Castel, Castel Frères claims on its internet to “sell 16 bottles every second” and to be the leader in wine distribution in France and Europe, and the number three in the world.
For Vincent Bougès, “Castel is a symbol.
Through them, the entire trading system is targeted.”
Among the demonstrators' slogans, a banner targeted the group's co-founder, Pierre Castel, a 97-year-old billionaire who lives in Switzerland: “Sell your helicopter, pay for our barrels”.
Last week, the Bordeaux commercial court sentenced two Gironde merchants to pay 350,000 euros to a Médoc wine grower who accused them of having violated the Egalim law on agricultural prices by buying his wine in bulk at a price " excessively low.”
“This decision comes at a key moment when we are talking about remunerative prices.
All this must inspire our organizations to legislate on the question of cost price, which must be an integral part of the purchase price,” believes Vincent Bougès.
The government plans to present “by the summer” a new text of law to “strengthen the Egalim system” which should allow better remuneration for farmers in the context of negotiations between distributors and agro-industrial suppliers.