Lidl one cent rosé sparks anger among French winegrowers
French winegrowers in Hérault have reacted angrily after a Lidl supermarket briefly sold a bottle of rosé for one euro cent. The retailer says the price was the result of an internal error but unions warn of further action if it happens again.
#insolite Coup de colère de la @FDSEA34 : un supermarché @lidlfrance dans l’#Herault affichait la bouteille de rosé d’un côte de Gascogne en promotion à… 1 centième d’euro !
>>https://t.co/HkrAoTFhDH— MÉTROPOLITAIN (@myMetropolitain) December 10, 2025
A Lidl supermarket in Sérignan in the Hérault region briefly offered a 75 cl bottle of Côtes de Gascogne rosé for €0.01, far below its usual shelf price of €2.99. The sale triggered immediate protests from local winegrowers and agricultural representatives.
The issue emerged earlier this week when a winegrower alerted the Hérault branch of the FDSEA after spotting the label in store. Jean Pascal Peragatti, co head of the Hérault FDSEA, told Le Figaro that Lidl initially described the incident as a clearance of an unlisted product that needed to be removed from sale, before later referring to a labelling mistake.
Growers question the explanation
“They always give us the excuse of a trainee’s mistake,” Peragatti said, as reported by Le Figaro. He argued that the message sent to consumers was damaging at a time when producers are struggling to sell wine and warned that shoppers might conclude that wines priced at five euros are overpriced.
Peragatti added that Lidl could have chosen other routes to clear stock, such as offering free cases with purchases or donating wine to the Restos du Cœur food bank, rather than placing a one cent price on the shelf.
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Unions prepare to monitor stores
The FDSEA has said it will monitor Lidl supermarkets across the department over the coming days to ensure the price label does not reappear. Peragatti said that action would be taken if a similar incident occurred again, according to French media reports.
Sophie Noguès, president of the FDSEA 34 farmers’ union, told local press that the wine was an unsold item meant to be removed from shelves and that it had been marked as €0 in the system. She said the product was taken off sale immediately after the union contacted the retailer.
Lidl responds to controversy
Lidl’s communications department has maintained that the incident was an internal error linked to its stock handling process. In a statement, the retailer said the wine should not have been on the shelves and that setting the price to zero euros is part of its internal procedure for removing unsaleable stock.
“These price displays are done remotely, and there was then a mistake in restocking the shelves in this store,” Lidl said, adding that the bottles were removed as soon as the FDSEA raised the issue.
Pricing pressures in a fragile market
The reaction reflects wider unease within the French wine sector about ultra-low pricing and its impact on perceptions of value. Growers argue that such offers risk training consumers to favour the cheapest possible wine and undermine regions already facing falling consumption and financial strain, as reported by several French outlets.
The Lidl incident follows other recent controversies around low wine prices in France, underlining tensions between discount retailing and a wine industry struggling to maintain both margins and reputation.
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