The European Commission has authorised a €300 million French state aid scheme to compensate wine companies for the grubbing-up of vines in the Bordeaux vineyards.
The aid is intended to compensate vineyard owners approaching retirement age or owners undergoing professional conversion who voluntarily remove vines on a long-term basis.
The aim of this grubbing-up is to reduce the density of vineyards in Gironde in order to combat the spread of the flavescence dorée disease.
The aid will be available to small and medium-sized enterprises in Gironde’s winemaking sector until 31 December 2025. This support, granted in return for this definitive reduction in production capacity on the plots concerned, will amount to €6,000 per hectare of vines in production.
The European Commission found that the aid complied with the European rules governing state aid and, in particular, with Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the 2022 Guidelines for state aid in the agriculture and forestry sectors and in rural areas. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)