Bordeaux’s Wine Slump Hits Suppliers

The crisis in Bordeaux’s wine industry is now rippling far beyond the vineyards, hitting bottle makers, cork suppliers, printers, cooperage firms, logistics companies and other businesses that depend on wine production for their sales and jobs.

At least 15,000 hectares of vines have been uprooted in the Bordeaux region between 2023 and 2026 as growers try to curb chronic oversupply. But the cuts have not stopped the damage. Demand remains weak, prices are under pressure and many wineries are short of cash. The result is a chain reaction that has left suppliers with fewer orders, lower revenue and growing uncertainty about the months ahead.

In Gironde, Annie Le Deunff, who runs Luz Environnement, a bottle-washing and reuse plant focused on wine bottles, said her revenue in mid-May was nearly one-third of what it was in 2025. She said clients who once ordered 20,000 bottles now call for just 600. Wineries are waiting until they have a confirmed order before bottling and are asking for only the exact number they need.

The same slowdown is being felt at Dartess, a Gironde-based logistics company with 180 employees that handles conditioning, storage and transport for wines and spirits. Alvaro Betanzos, the company’s commercial director, said there is less movement and less storage because the products sitting in warehouses are finished goods ready for sale. Bulk wine is staying at the estates while producers wait for more visibility.

At Maubrac, a carton packaging maker in Saint-Loubès that has been in business since 1947, activity has also fallen sharply. Charles Velasco, the deputy director and part of the third generation running the company, said some weeks the plant operates with only two machines instead of four or five. He said the situation has worsened over the past six months and that customers are placing orders at the last minute. “The atmosphere is sometimes electric,” he said.

The financial strain on wineries is also changing how suppliers get paid. Le Deunff said she now asks for immediate payment because she fears some clients may never be able to settle their bills. “There are too many châteaux on the edge,” she said.

The shock deepened on April 1, when the Bordeaux commercial court ordered the liquidation of H & A Location, a Bordeaux-based group that had become the world leader in barrel rental. The company had more than 2,000 clients worldwide and reported revenue of €401 million, but it was weighed down by debt. When no credible takeover offer emerged by the May 19 deadline, the court confirmed there would be no rescue plan.

For cooperages, the downturn has been severe. François Witasse, president of the South West union of master coopers and chief executive of Demptos in Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux, said orders for barrels in Bordeaux have fallen by 35% to 40% over the past two to three years. He pointed to lower wine consumption in France and abroad, tariffs in the United States and reduced investment by châteaux. Demptos’ revenue fell from €24.9 million in 2024 to €20.5 million in 2025, and Witasse said his staff is now overcapacity.

Glassmakers are also under pressure because every wine production line depends on bottles. At O-I Glass’s plant in Vayres, no bottles are currently leaving the site after the company shut down its second furnace on March 10 through Sept. 17; its first furnace had already been idle. The company has announced 316 job cuts in France across its operations, including possible reductions at Vayres. Verallia has also planned to stop one furnace at its plant near Cognac, with 51 jobs expected to go as part of voluntary departures.

Some companies are trying to adapt by moving into other markets. Vicard, a century-old cooperage in Charente with about 100 employees, has launched Vicard Home, a furniture line made from oak. Jean-Charles Vicard said it will not replace lost wine-related volume but could open new business lines. Mo. Del, a smaller company known for its “viti-tunnel” protective vineyard cover system, has expanded into market gardening, orchards and horticulture after raising €2 million earlier this year to support diversification. Vitirover, which began making robotic mowers for vineyards in 2007, now gets only about one-third of its business from wine and has expanded into solar farms, roadsides, rail corridors and industrial sites.

But not every business can pivot easily. Luz Environnement specializes only in wine bottles. Le Deunff said washing jars or food containers would require investments she cannot afford.

As wineries cut spending and delay purchases, other sectors tied to industrial equipment and raw materials are also feeling the strain. For many businesses across Bordeaux’s wine economy, the problem is no longer limited to grape growers or cellar owners; it is spreading through an entire regional network built around wine production and export.