what is happening to the vineyard surface area from 2024?
France is a country renowned worldwide for its fine wines. People have long flocked to the south of France to admire its vast vineyards and taste its delicious wines. It may therefore be surprising to learn that the French government has announced plans to uproot large swathes of vineyards. This seemingly drastic measure is the government’s response to the shrinking wine sector and is part of a broader plan to uproot up to 100,000 hectares of vineyards.
Money talks! The 30,000-hectare plan, conceived by the French government, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, and the Bordeaux Interprofessional Wine Council, is expected to cost €120 million (about $131 million). As an incentive, winegrowers who allow the government to uproot their vines will receive a payment of up to €4,000 (US$4,380) per hectare. The clause in the Replanting Ban stipulates that, once the offer is accepted, vineyard owners will be prohibited from replanting vines on the same land until at least 2029. The rationale is that the main reason for uprooting all these vineyards is the sharp decline in demand. Indeed, wine consumption in France has been declining for decades. Let’s look at the numbers: according to the French Observatory on Drugs and Drug Addiction, in the 1960s the average French citizen drank 120 liters of wine a year. This has now declined sharply; today, the average annual consumption of a single French person is only 40 liters, a 70% reduction. Studies show that young French people, in particular, have a very different relationship with wine. In the past, wine was the preferred drink. Nowadays, however, young people prefer beer to wine and, in many cases, reject alcohol altogether. According to the government agency FranceAgriMer, wine sales in French supermarkets between January 1st and August 11th decreased by 5% in 2024 compared to 2023. Furthermore, it’s not just domestic demand for French wine that’s declining in this sector.
For some time now, the sector has also been affected by reduced international demand. The numbers speak for themselves: in 2023, wine exports were 10% lower than in 2022. However, this doesn’t mean France isn’t still a major international player in the wine sector. Competition is a key factor; with 48 million hectoliters in 2023, France was the world’s largest wine exporter. In 2024, Italy was the world’s largest wine exporter, with a turnover of €8.1 billion, a 5.5% increase over the previous year. The United States was the largest market for Italian wines, with a 10% increase in exports, followed by Germany with a 3.71% increase. Furthermore, France remained the second-largest exporter, with a value of €11.7 billion. One of the main reasons for the decline in exports to France is that China, previously a major importer of French wines, has reduced its demand.
Chinese wines, well, China is increasingly producing its own wine, and the Chinese currently seem to prefer Spanish and Italian grapes to French ones. Another factor that could have a long-term negative impact on the French wine industry is climate change.
Climate change is a very important factor; global warming is also changing the growing environment for vines in French vineyards. So far, climate change has actually benefited the sector. Studies of Bordeaux vineyards between 1950 and 2020 have shown that crops have benefited from warmer summers and wetter winters.
Looking to the future, however, if temperatures continue to rise, the same vineyards that have benefited from global warming could begin to face drought. Increased competition: The French wine industry could face increased competition, as climate change is making wine production possible in countries whose climates previously prevented it, namely above the 50th parallel.
One of many examples is the United Kingdom: Sussex, the southern region of Great Britain where vines are grown, and Oxfordshire are above the 51st parallel. Increasingly warm summers are leading investors to believe the country could become a major wine producer during the 21st century. Rapidly growing, with 4,000 new hectares of vineyards planted in the last five years, Great Britain is currently the fastest-growing wine region in the world. In southern England, frost, which in the past had devastating effects on vineyards and would have made grape cultivation impossible, now occurs rarely. But it’s not just in the south that wine grape varieties are being planted. Vineyards are sprouting up across the country, from southern England to Scotland.
Well, in response to this combination of factors, the government announced plans to uproot all these vineyards in France. Only time will tell if this will be an effective way to balance supply and demand.