Grapes of wrath: crisis-hit French vineyards appeal for help to survive

French winemakers are often accused of viewing their glasses as half empty. Dire warnings about the state of the sector are a hardy perennial - blamed on everything from geopolitics to a drop in the number of drinkers.

- Kim Willsher

Winemakers in France have seen harvests decimated by heatwaves and hail, as well as being hit by US tariffs and the war on Ukraine

(PHOTOGRAPH: IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES/AFP/GETTY)

But before a crisis meeting with the agriculture minister today, vineyard owners say an unprecedented series of setbacks, including some of the worst harvests in 70 years, has left many of them on their last legs.

Jean-Marie Fabre, the president of the independent winemakers' syndicate, said urgent action was needed to save up to a fifth of the country's winegrowers.

"They are putting their final efforts into this battle for survival. The situation is dramatic and the government has to do something," Fabre said.

"We cannot imagine that this sector that is so important for France will be abandoned, but if the government doesn't act then it is saying the wine and spirits industry is no longer important, which would be hard to believe."

Several thousand winegrowers turned up to a protest just over a week ago in the southern city of Béziers, calling on the government to come up with a rescue package to compensate for harvests hit by bad weather, rising costs and falling sales.