French Wine Sector Generates €14.73 Billion Surplus Amid Calls for Overhaul

French senators have released a report outlining 23 recommendations aimed at securing the future of the country’s wine industry. The report, presented by senators Daniel Laurent, Henri Cabanel, and Sébastien Pla, comes after months of research, more than 50 hearings, and 150 meetings with stakeholders across the sector. All three senators are themselves winegrowers and represent different political groups. They say their proposals are designed to address deep-rooted challenges facing French viticulture.

The senators point to several causes behind the current crisis in the wine sector. These include climate change, shifting consumer habits, increased international competition, and a series of economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and trade tensions with the United States and China. According to the report, public aid has often been used to help the sector weather these crises, but such support is no longer enough to hide underlying structural weaknesses.

One of the most significant recommendations is to organize national talks on viticulture in 2026 under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture. These talks would bring together producers, traders, distributors, cooperatives, banks, and public institutions. The goal is to create a “sector pact” that would restore dialogue between different parts of the industry. The senators argue that this kind of agreement is necessary to ensure everyone involved—from grape growers to those who market and sell wine—takes responsibility for the future of French wine.

The report also suggests opening up defense and management organizations (ODGs), which currently oversee production standards for appellations, to include downstream actors like traders and distributors. This would give them a say in production decisions. In regions like Champagne, this could mean allowing merchants a greater role in decision-making—a move that has historically faced resistance from local grower unions.

International competitiveness is another focus of the recommendations. The senators note that while France leads in export value for wine, it lags behind Italy and Spain in terms of volume. They call for a unified national strategy to promote French wine abroad under a single banner. This approach would mirror efforts by other major wine-producing countries that present a united front in global markets.

Other key recommendations include continuing efforts to prevent and address mental health issues among farmers, simplifying administrative procedures for wine producers, making public aid conditional on cooperation within the sector, promoting contracts between producers and distributors to secure sales channels, shifting from isolated vine removal initiatives to collective regional strategies, and rigorously evaluating public funding to ensure its effectiveness. The report also calls for stable tax policies for the wine sector.

France’s wine industry is complex, with 236 ODGs managing 442 protected designations of origin (AOP) and protected geographical indications (IGP), as well as 23 interprofessional organizations. Despite this complexity, French wines and spirits control 17 percent of the global market share and generated a trade surplus of €14.73 billion in 2023—the equivalent value of 49 Airbus A380 aircraft—making it France’s third-largest contributor to its trade balance.

The senators highlight Cognac and Champagne as examples of regions where strong organization between producers and marketers has led to success. In these regions, annual negotiations determine how much each grower can produce based on market demand. The senators suggest that this model could inspire broader reforms across France’s wine sector.

The proposed national talks in 2026 are intended as a turning point for French viticulture. The senators stress that their report is not just another study but a tool for real reform. They believe that only concrete solutions will preserve what they describe as both an economic asset and a cultural heritage for France.