The Drinks Business reported on Monday that French winegrowers marched through the streets in Béziers in the South of France, requesting government support for workers in an industry facing enormous headwinds.
French winemakers, or vignerons, are no stranger to taking to the streets when things get tough, and this weekend’s protest was due to losses after extreme weather conditions, cost-of-living crises and the fact that many winemakers can’t support themselves anymore.
“There’s mounting anger, because wine growers just can’t make ends meet anymore,” said Vice President of Occitanie Winegrowers’ Cooperative Fabien Castelbou, according to The Drinks Business. “We can’t live off our work. With falling yields year-to-year, we’re not making any profit.”
During the protest, which was organized by the Aude Winegrowers’ Union, President Damien Onorre said that for the last three years the region had experienced droughts and heat waves. Onorre shared that he personally lost 50% of his production throughout those years. According to the outlet, France’s harvest forecast dropped 16% below the five-year average.
A Region With Centuries of Winegrowers’ Protests
Interestingly enough, the protest took place on the same streets where a “wine revolt” took place in 1907. This Day In Wine History cites that 150,000 protestors took to the streets over the course of several days. Eventually, between 600 and 800,000 protestors railed against foreign wines flooding the French marketplace. Apparently, the French government deployed over 25,000 troops to quell the protests, leading to widespread bouts of civil unrest.
The winegrowers’ protest that took place on Saturday, Nov. 15, was admittedly more peaceful, yet some growers claim the stakes are just as high. Because of climate change, the cost of living expenses, potential tariffs and a decrease in yields, many winegrowers worry about the heritage of French wines as a whole.
Tensions have been ramping for the French wine industry as vignerons face a climate in heightened crisis. In December, Decanter reported on vandals targeting one of the country’s largest wine producers. Masked demonstrators broke into the Aude estate and set a storage unit on fire. They additionally emptied and drained several fermentation tanks, while grafitting “viti en colère” or “viticulturists are angry.”
“Some people are fed up, because nothing is moving forward,” said the President of the Syndicat des Vignerons de l’Aude. “We are heading towards difficult times, and I can imagine that some people end up doing this kind of thing out of desperation.”
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