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In order to alleviate the financial crisis in the wine sector in France, its Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, has announced the implementation of a budget increase over the nearly 173 million previously allocated for the disposal of some 250 million liters of wine.
Change in trend
This need for government support is due to the difficulties faced by the French wine industry, following the decline in consumer demand caused by several factors. These include the pandemic and the decline in alcohol consumption in the country, which has been steadily decreasing since the 1970s, when the government began to launch social campaigns warning of the negative health effects of alcohol consumption.
The increase in single-parent households and the decrease in the consumption of red meat, with which red wine is usually paired, are also reasons that have brought it into a phase of full decline.
This spirited shift in consumption towards beer and other spirits, leaving wine in the background, has led the French government to act, asking winemakers to adapt their production to changes in demand; allocating money to reduce the amount of grapes produced and to persuade vineyards to start growing olives. In this regard, more than 23,000 acres of grape vines in Bordeaux will be destroyed and reused in order to redefine the future of the French wine sector.
