31/03/2026 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 31 March, the European Commission adopted a delegated regulation enabling France to obtain €40 million from the crisis reserve to help reduce surplus stocks of red and rosé wines. The scheme (aid for wines intended for crisis distillation) is designed to stabilise a weakened national market and support winegrowers in the face of falling prices. At 31 July 2025, French stocks stood at 20 million hectolitres, despite production being slightly higher than in 2024. Bulk sales prices were down 19.6% on the average for the previous five years. It is planned to withdraw 1.2 million hectolitres of wine from the most affected markets. The aid is intended to compensate producers to the tune of €33 per hectolitre. The wines distilled will only be used for industrial, energy or pharmaceutical purposes. The text: https://aeur.eu/f/les (LC)