The streets run red in French wine war
BÉZIERS, France — On a late evening in March, a group of winegrowers wearing black balaclavas forced their way into one of France’s largest wine brokerages and ignited three Molotov cocktails. Within minutes, the business, Passerieux Vergnes Diffusion, was in flames.
Vigilante vignerons had previously raided two big wine distributors nearby, in the Languedoc wineproducingregion,smashing offices and dumping a river ofredwineintothestreets.
The businesses had one thing in common: They had struck deals to import inexpensive wine from Spain, prompting a backlash among local winemakers who feared their livelihoods wereunderattack.
“I was stupefied,” said René Vergnes, a native of Languedoc who has run the Passerieux Vergnes wine brokerage business for 35 years. “Everything was destroyed.”
Vergnes was the latest target in a wine war across France’s largest winegrowing area, pitting independentwineproducersagainst imports from other European Union countries, and the businessesthatdealinthem.
The movement has sparked outrage in Spain, where the government demanded a crackdown on what it called a violation of the EU’s free trade rules. Spanish producers also say the actions distract from graver threats to Europe’s wine industry, including Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, which could slow exports to the bloc’s biggest buyer of European wines.
And as the United States under President Donald Trump pivots toward protectionism, European winemakers are expected to face stiff competition from Australia and other countries as the EU seeks new trade dealstocompensate.
While France often conjurestheimageofwell-to-do winemakers in regal châteaus, many are small struggling vignerons, especially in this region, otherwise known as the Pays d’Oc, which built its industry for over a century on low-cost table wines.
Spain’s competition
These vignerons say they are facing unfair competition, especially from Spain, where a nowfading economic crisis had slashed wine prices. European rules, they insist, deepen their woes by requiring free movement of goods that sometimes don’t meet production or quality standards in the importing country. EU labeling standards also make it easy for retailers to pass foreign products off as French — a problem that plagues other European countries with their products.
Trucks ambushed
Wine rebels have executed dozens of attacks in protest since last summer, includingambushingSpanishwinetrucksattheborder and dumping the payload on highways. The most aggressive rebels are part of a secret commando organization that targeted businesses like Vergnes’, which had brokered a handful of Spanish wine contracts for French clients.
“Many people are just scrapingby,butnooneislistening,” said Lionel Puech, a co-president of the Young Farmers Association, a union that has admitted to joining some of the militant actions, none of which have yetresultedinprosecutions.
France has sought to calm nerves. Last month, thegovernmentheldameeting of French and Spanish wine representatives and ministers.Theycondemned the violence and agreed to strengthen relations.