Six days after
“the earthquake”
caused by a decision of the Bordeaux commercial court condemning merchants for having bought too cheap wine from a winegrower, around a hundred of them blocked the largest cellar in Europe, leader of the wine distribution in France and Europe, located in Blanquefort.
At the heart of the anger of these winegrowers gathered in front of the headquarters of the merchant Castel Frères, since 5 a.m. this Wednesday, the purchase price per barrel of wine in Bordeaux.
Farmers mobilized at the call of the local branches of Young Farmers (JA 33) and the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA 33) are demanding purchase prices
"which take into account their production costs"
.
Manure, hay, tires and vine stocks in support, the demonstrators warn of
"market and bulk prices which are clearly below cost prices and destructive of farms"
, as underlined by Vincent Bougès, president of the JA 33.
Also read “It’s an earthquake”: two merchants sentenced for having bought the production of a Bordeaux winegrower at too low a price
“Sell your helicopter, pay for our barrels”
While Bordeaux, the largest AOC vineyard in France, faces an unprecedented crisis which is characterized in particular by a grubbing up campaign, wine growers denounce purchase prices per barrel so low that they are guaranteed to
“continue to complete the sector
.
Targeted for the
“symbol”
it represents, Castel Frères, which claims to sell 16 bottles of wine per second, is number 3 in the world in the field.
“Sell your helicopter, pay for our barrels,”
shouts a banner displayed against Pierre Castel, the co-founder of the group, a 97-year-old billionaire who lives in Switzerland.
Based on the Egalim law and this recent conviction of two merchants to pay 350,000 euros to winemaker Rémi Lacombe, i.e. compensation of around 30 cents per liter of wine, Vincent Bougès insists on the importance of this decision for the sector.
“All this must inspire our organizations to legislate on the question of cost price, which must be an integral part of the purchase price
,” he insists.
A message that he was able to bring to Castel Frères, which received a delegation of dissatisfied farmers this Wednesday.
In this regard, the government must also present
“by the summer”
a new text of law to
“strengthen the Egalim system”
in order to allow the better remuneration long awaited by farmers in the context of negotiations between distributors and agro suppliers. -industrial.