France reopens wine destruction aid after producers leave part of €40 million unused

France has reopened a crisis distillation program for surplus red and rosé wine, giving producers, cooperatives and merchants another chance to remove unsold stock from a market under heavy pressure.

FranceAgriMer, the public agency that oversees agricultural markets, said its data platform reopened at noon on June 16 and will accept new commitments until noon on June 30. The measure applies to red and rosé wines held in inventory as of July 31, 2025, including AOP, IGP and wines without geographical indication.

The move follows a first application round that closed on May 21 and did not use the full budget available for the program. According to FranceAgriMer, the remaining funds come from a €40 million package announced on January 10 by France’s Agriculture Ministry and supported by the European Union’s crisis reserve.

The aid remains set at €33 per hectoliter, with €30 going to winegrowers or marketers and €3 to distillers for processing costs. FranceAgriMer said the wine must meet a minimum alcohol threshold, be delivered in bulk to approved distillers and be submitted in lots of at least 30 hectoliters per operator. Volumes already committed during the first round will be deducted from each applicant’s eligible ceiling.

If total demand exceeds the money left in the program, FranceAgriMer said it may apply a stabilizing coefficient that would reduce accepted volumes proportionally.

The distilled alcohol cannot return to the food chain. Under EU rules, it must be redirected to industrial or energy uses, including bioethanol or chemical production. After applications are reviewed and validated by distillers through July 10, contracts will be formally notified. Collection, distillation and shipment of the alcohol must be completed by September 30. Distillers then have until October 10 to submit customs and electronic documentation needed for final payments to winegrowers before the end of 2026.

The reopening reflects the depth of the downturn facing parts of the French wine sector, especially red and rosé categories. Prices have fallen sharply and sales have weakened, leaving inventories at levels authorities consider critical. By pulling excess volumes out of circulation, the measure could help ease stock pressure and support pricing in a saturated market, while giving wineries clearer rules and deadlines for access to public aid.

French producers have already gone through a larger emergency effort. In 2023, authorities mobilized €200 million to destroy more than 4 million hectoliters of wine, with compensation ranging from €45 to €75 per hectoliter depending on category.

Officials and industry groups have also made clear that crisis distillation is only a short-term tool. It does not solve the broader decline in wine consumption across Europe that has forced French vineyards to rethink production capacity.

That wider restructuring is already underway. Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard recently presented a broader crisis plan that includes a permanent vine-pull scheme. That program closed in March and is expected to remove 27,929 hectares of vineyards from France’s wine map by December 31, 2026. The state support for that measure is set at €4,000 per hectare, for a total budget effort of €111 million.

Together, the destruction of surplus stocks and the permanent reduction of vineyard area show how far France has moved from temporary market support toward a deeper reshaping of its wine industry as demand changes at home and across Europe.