The Burgundy Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) is massively opposed to the French government's contingency plans to have two million hectolitres of wine distilled into alcohol at a guaranteed purchase price of 70 cents per litre. BIVB President Thiebault Huber told the AFP news agency that he was very "angry" about these plans: "We are not interested in distillation Louis-Fabrice Latour, in charge of producers' interests at BVIB, added: "We are not engaged in excessive wine production in Burgundy. In our cellars we have the equivalent of two vintages. Therefore we do not want to distil. We need help for our exports."
The BIVB estimates that, due to the high US tariffs and the effects of Covid-19, farm sales will fall by more than 50 percent on average. The export share of Burgundy wines is over 50 per cent, and about 20 per cent has been delivered to the USA so far.
(uka / Photo: Uwe Kauss)