Dijon (AFP)

"It's a disaster": the cancellations of wine fairs and the closure of the reception to the public have deprived small winegrowers of their main outlet. "It is the sustainability of operations" that is at stake, we warn in Burgundy, where the surfaces are often small.

"Lounges is my maximum output in terms of sales": Françoise Jeanniard, at the head of only 3.5 hectares, does not have the means of distribution for large houses and counts on the "15 lounges" that she visits herself every year to sell her small production.

"I meet half of the loyal customers and the other new customers who taste and buy at the show," she told AFP.

But, this year, the winegrower based in Pernand-Vergelesses (Côte d'Or), near Beaune, took turns seeing the doors close.

"Suddenly, three shows were canceled. It's a disaster: it's 40,000 euros less. It's huge for a small area like me," she confesses without wanting to be more specific.

Due to the pandemic, the independent winegrowers' fairs in Paris and Bordeaux, which were to take place in March, have been postponed until June, hopefully. Abroad, the approximately 60,000 visitors to the huge ProWein fair in Dusseldorf (Germany) will have to wait another year, as will the two thousand buyers of the USA Trade Tasting (USATT) in New York .

"It's very penalizing," says David Fagot, owner of 8 ha of vines in Fuissé (Saône-et-Loire), very close to Mâcon. "I make 60 to 65% of my sales at trade fairs. ProWein, for example, represents 15% of my sales. Trade fairs are THE way to find new customers."

And, the reception of the public being henceforth prohibited, its field will not be able to catch up on the direct sales to the vaults, which normally represent "15%" of the turnover, reminds Mr. Fagot.

- "At the bottom of the hole" -

The shortfall weighs particularly on small farms, many in Burgundy, where the average area is less than seven hectares (compared to 17 in Bordeaux and 12.3 for the French average). Having only a small amount of cash, the modest-sized estates remain at the mercy of the vagaries: "I think that, mid-April, I'm at zero. What will happen next?" Wonders David Fagot.

Because revenues may be zero since the pandemic, the charges continue to fall.

"I have a permanent employee. I cannot put him out of work because the vines do not stop": on the hillsides, the first leaves are already starting to appear and you must quickly attach the vine strips to guide shoot. "There is a job, we have to keep going," said Mr. Fagot. But with what money?

"The winegrowers here have a month, a month and a half of cash", warns Alain Vautherot, commercial manager of Patrimoine de Terroirs, an association of thirty independent winegrowers across France.

"It is an economic and financial disaster. For the most part, the situation is more than tense," he warns, referring to the call of a desperate winemaker who asked him if he could not sell his wine at a discount so to find even a little bit of cash.

"The winegrowers are in the m ... Those who have a little cash in advance will stay afloat, but the others?" Wonders Mr. Vautherot.

"The difficulty is the sustainability of our operations", recognizes Thiébault Huber, president of the Confederation of Appellations and Vintners of Burgundy (CAVB). "Sales at shows? Some do it all, with cellar sales. It's hard, very hard. People call me to ask me how to pay the March wages," said Huber, also. manager of the Domaine Huber-Verdereau in Volnay (6.5 hectares).

Burgundy wines, with a very good reputation, will sell. But how do you stay afloat by then?

"We are ready for the recovery but if it lasts for months and months, it will be difficult. The winemakers who do not have the critical size are the most worried", notes Louis-Fabrice Latour, president of the Interprofessional Bureau of Wines of Burgundy (BIVB). "We're at the bottom of the hole," he sums up.

© 2020 AFP