Bordeaux launches €20m fund to tackle vineyard crisis
Bordeaux authorities have unveiled a €20 million land fund aimed at addressing the financial pressures facing struggling growers across the region. The initiative will buy abandoned and uprooted vineyard land as part of a broader effort to reshape Bordeaux’s wine landscape.
Authorities in the Bordeaux appellation are moving to address the financial crises being faced by some vignerons as falling demand hits the region.
A €20m public-private land fund has been launched to buy up parcels of abandoned or uprooted vineyards in a bid to reshape one of France’s most troubled wine areas.
Public and private backing
Last week, the Foncière Avenir Gironde, backed by regional banks, the national government and the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, made initial overtures to owners to identify plots that could be purchased.
€14m is being put up by some of the region’s banks, while Paris will contribute €3.5m, a sum which will be matched by the regional government.
Étienne Guyot, the prefect of Nouvelle Aquitaine, said the project came at an important moment and hailed it as an unprecedented public-private alliance meant to show that collective action can be effective.
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Growers invited to submit land
Initially vineyard owners across the Gironde region, where there are an estimated 5,400 growers, are being asked to submit interest in selling parcels that have already been uprooted or are about to be uprooted, as well as land left fallow.
Despite the potentially small budget, in some cases nearby woods, other land or even buildings may also be included if they make sense from a land use or cadastral point of view.
No valuation framework yet revealed
The landowners have until 7 June to submit a notification of interest, but that will not oblige them to go ahead with a sale. For its part, the fund manager will also be free to decide whether buying a given plot would be viable.
To date no scheme of valuation or potential prices has been revealed, nor what use the purchased plots will be put to.
Wider restructuring underway
The scheme is designed to give marginal or struggling producers a way to exit growing when their land is no longer earning a return under current market conditions.
This comes at a time when the region is looking to restructure Bordeaux’s viticultural footprint, when many growers are under pressure to reduce costs, shed unproductive land or simply quit the sector.
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