Outcry as winemakers ordered to quit France

BANYULS-SUR-MER, France — Wine lovers have risen up in revolt after a Japanese couple who make “outstanding” wine were threatened with deportation.

More than 42,000 have already signed a petition protesting the “crazy, moronic and shameful decision”, with wine and restaurant critics now joining the outcry.

Rie and Hirofumi Shoji’s “exceptional” red wine, Pedres Blanques (White Rocks), made from grenache grapes near Banyuls-sur-Mer in the southern French Catalan region of Roussillon, became an instant hit after their first harvest last year.

Their first year of production completely sold out, with 10,000 bottles quickly snapped up and the price surging from 12 euros ($14) to 26 euros.

But immigration officials said the couple could not stay in France because they were not earning enough and their business was “not viable”.

The Shojis met in France after arriving separately in 2011 dreaming of making their own wine. Both studied and worked with some of the country’s leading winemakers in the Burgundy and Bordeaux regions to perfect their skills before marrying and buying the land together in 2016.

However, when they tried to change their status on their papers from “employees” to “farmers”, officials told them they would have to leave the country because they earned less than 2,000 euros a month.

Green MEP Yannick Jadot called the decision “absurd” and urged his supporters to sign a petition to save the couple.