The Great French Wine War (video)

The Great French Wine War (video)

Brexit is not the only setback to the unification of Europe. Objections to the European Union’s tweaking of long established rules in the wine industry, as well as questionable free trade practices, have led to violent protests, vandalism, and arson on the continent.

According to Decanter Magazine, a feud has developed in the Loire Valley in France, where some 6,000 young vines were vandalized in July. The vandalism is believed to be in protest of new EU rules that allow Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir vines to be planted outside of AOC appellation borders for use under the IGP Val de Loire labels. On one side of the issue are the traditional AOC winemakers, who have previously protested against the new rules since October of 2015. On the other side are the vineyards that take advantage of the new EU rules, including one belonging to Jean-Jacques Auchère, who reported an estimated €12,000 in damages due to vandalism, Decanter Magazine reported.

In April, the same publication also reported similar instances of vandalism in Languedoc-Roussillon, where old Syrah vines were cut at the Clot de lOum winery, causing a minimum of €25,000 in damages. No motive was evident in this incident, but some speculate retaliation for the spilling of imported Spanish wine along the highway in the South of France earlier this year.

That spilling, widely reported in Europe, happened just a few miles from the French-Spanish border. A militant group of wine producers, based in Languedoc-Roussillon, hijacked some tankers that were part of a large convoy delivering Spanish wine to French companies. The producers opened the valves of the tankers, allowing wine to spill on the roads. As the trucks were being emptied, they wrote graffiti on sides of the tankers to protest the lack of compliance to trade rules and the lack of support for French vineyards from their own government as a result of new central EU directives. The attack prompted the Spanish Foreign Ministry to summon the French ambassador in Madrid for an official protest.

The image of dozens of tankers coming across the border may seem like an invasion, but French wine still dominates the world market in terms of sales. In fact, France, in order to keep up with demand, must import wine from Spain and Italy, both of whom have had a surplus of wine production in recent years. At least one French vineyard has been caught passing off Spanish wine as its own.

According to the Organization Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), Italy now surpasses France in terms of production with 48.9m hectoliters in 2015. France follows with 47.4 mhl, and Spain has returned to an average production of 36.6 mhl.

Most recently, France3 reported that the militant group of producers in Languedoc-Roussillon, the Comité Régionale d’Action Viticole (CRAV) has claimed responsibility for vandalizing the offices of a large Southern French wine company. About 30 disguised members of CRAV broke into the offices, breaking furniture, trashing equipment and leaving tires on fire. CRAV has, in the past, threatened to kill if the French government did not give more support to the French wine industry.

Last November, vandals destroyed a plot of non-AOC luxury vines in Bordeaux. These vines were being cultivated in pre-phylloxera varietals and methods, yielding a wine that would sell for €3,000 per bottle, intended for export.

Much of the protest revolves around new European Union regulations that came into effect on January 1st of this year, but are feared to be the beginning of more changes to come in the future. The new regulations include recognition of new official regions that will be allowed to sell their wine commercially, a change in how wines are labeled to include categories other than the traditional AOC, as well as a deregulation of planting rights.

French unions may also object to the 15,000 Spaniards expected to cross the Pyrénées to work the vineyards for the harvests from August to November, according to Vitisphere. This practice is, of course, completely legal under the European Union. But all of this controversy will figure in the upcoming French elections to be held in the Spring of 2017. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, an admirer of Donald Trump as well as Brexit, has gained in popularity for her anti-immigration policies, and her objections to the changes the EU has brought to France, such as open borders. She has vowed to hold a “Frexit” referendum in France if she becomes president.

The following is a video report by France3 on the most recent act of vandalism in the city of Sète, where the CRAV organization broke into a center belonging to a major wine company and opened five large vats, and let the wine spill out into the streets of the city. CRAV claims that it was because these wines were cheap imports from Spain designed to undercut the French market. A spokesman for CRAV stated that some of the wine had been “spaniardized,” meaning that they may have come from countries such as Chile and gone through Spain to make it look like it was not in violation of EU rules. It is unclear what portion of the containers were of Spanish origin, or had merely traveled through Spain.

Sète (34) : 5 cuves de l’entreprise Biron vidées par le CRAV dans les rues de la ville