UIV: 'No to the scrapping of vineyards'

Firm no to the grubbing-up of vineyards financed with resources that serve the competitiveness of Italian wine. This is the position taken by the Council of the Italian Wine Union, which met today in Barolo (Cuneo). Over the past few months, first in Europe and then in Italy, the idea of rebalancing the wine market by reducing production and scrapping vineyards with an incentive to accompany the early retirement of wine growers has surfaced.

France, which is experiencing a heavy crisis, particularly in certain wine-growing areas such as Bordeaux, where a grubbing-up campaign has already been launched for a total of 9,000 hectares, 10% of the total surface area, with an allocation from the French public budget of 30 million euros

It is true,' they explained to the Italian Wine Union, 'that there is an imbalance between supply and demand, but there are other measures that could be taken to rebalance the market without affecting an asset that has been cultivated for decades. "The CEuropean Commission," announced the President of UIV, Lamberto Frescobaldi, "has set the first meeting of the High Level Group on the future of the Wine CMO for next September. UIV will be firmly opposed to the diversion of strategic funds, such as those for restructuring and promotion, but there will be maximum collaboration in considering other hypotheses to rationalise the production potential of the Italian vineyard".

The idea of 'deferred restructuring' is gaining ground in Europe. France has started to adopt it but it has also been proposed by some Italian agricultural organisations. According to UIV, it is more an invitation to (financed) abandonment than a restructuring operation: those who have access to Pns funds will have up to 6 years to replant, and if they decide not to do so they will in any case collect 50%.

In Italy - unlike France - they are even considering extending the time span to eight years or eliminating the term directly.