Near Bordeaux, wine growers block the warehouses of a trading giant

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP 2:49 p.m., February 28, 2024

Around a hundred wine growers and around thirty tractors blocked access to the warehouses of Castel Frères, a global wine trading giant, on Wednesday morning near Bordeaux to demand purchase prices "which take production costs into account".

Gathered at the call of the agricultural unions FNSEA 33 and Young Farmers (JA), the demonstrators dumped manure, hay, tires and even vine stocks in front of the entrance to the Blanquefort site, considered the largest winery of Europe.

Winegrowers want to warn about "market and bulk prices which are clearly below cost prices and destructive of farms", indicates Vincent Bougès, president of the JA in Gironde.

According to him, "with one more campaign at this price level on the market, we will continue to complete the sector", while the Bordeaux vineyard, the largest AOC vineyard in France with 110,000 hectares, is facing an overproduction crisis. for several years.

“Sell your helicopter, pay for our barrels” 

Historic branch of the Castel group, a global giant in alcohol trading founded by Pierre Castel, Castel Frères claims on its internet to "sell 16 bottles every second" and to be the leader in wine distribution in France and Europe, and the number three in the world.

For Vincent Bougès, “Castel is a symbol. Through them, the entire trading system is targeted.”

Among the demonstrators' slogans, we could read a banner on Wednesday morning targeting the group's co-founder, Pierre Castel, a 97-year-old billionaire who lives in Switzerland: "Sell your helicopter, pay for our barrels."

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Last week, the Bordeaux commercial court sentenced two Gironde merchants to pay 350,000 euros to a Médoc wine grower who accused them of having violated the Egalim law on agricultural prices by buying his wine in bulk at an "abusive" price. down".

“This decision comes at a key moment when we are talking about remunerative prices. All this must inspire our organizations to legislate on the question of the cost price, which must be an integral part of the purchase price,” insisted Vincent Bougès .

The government plans to present "by the summer" a new law to "strengthen the Egalim system" which should allow better remuneration for farmers within the framework of negotiations between distributors and agro-industrial suppliers.