The Existential Crisis of Bordeaux: The Worst Disaster in Modern Wine

The Existential Crisis of Bordeaux: The Worst Disaster in Modern Wine

The Scale of the Problem

The French wine world is experiencing its worst crisis since the phylloxera epidemic of the 19th century: a collapse in consumption and revenues that is leading inexorably towards despair and the permanent uprooting of a quarter of the country’s vineyards.

Average per capita wine consumption in France has fallen from 150 litres per year after the Second World War — nearly half a bottle a day — to just 40 litres today. The French are not only drinking less; they are drinking differently. Beer and cocktails are gaining ground, and when wine is consumed, whites, rosés and sparkling varieties are preferred over reds.

The crisis is not confined to cheap wines. The grands crus classés are experiencing difficulties for the first time in modern history. Prices for some of Bordeaux’s finest wines dropped by 20–30% in the en primeur sales of the 2023 vintage. Twenty years ago those wines would sell out within a fortnight; in January 2025, en primeur offers were arriving daily in email inboxes without finding buyers.

The Image That Shook the World

The scene that crystallised the crisis in the international media occurred at an auction in the Blaye region: 90,000 cases of organic wine from a bankrupt estate sold for just €0.23 per case. That same evening, some producers opened the taps on their tanks and let 110,000 cases drain away to avoid flooding the market with cheap wine.

Furious producers marched through the streets of Bordeaux carrying dead vines, and when they reached the Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) headquarters, they hung a mannequin from a tree to symbolise winemakers on the brink of suicide. Sales of bulk Bordeaux had ground to such a halt that the CIVB stopped publishing price quotations from October.

The Human Crisis: Suicides Amongst Winegrowers

In early January 2026, the third suicide of a financially distressed winegrower was recorded since the previous year, a symbol of how deep the despair has become in the region. More than one hundred professional, trade union and commercial organisations in the sector jointly signed the “Appel de Bordeaux”, urging the government to pass the 2026 budget and implement immediate assistance measures.

The Government’s Response: Uproot to Survive

The French government, backed by the EU, has launched a permanent vineyard removal programme: €130 million to finance the elimination of up to 32,500 hectares across France, with a premium of €4,000 per hectare for those who agree to uproot their vines permanently. The vines must be removed before June 2026, and replanting will not be permitted for at least six years. For winemakers drowning in debt, this represents a dignified exit. For those who remain, the region they rebuild will be profoundly different from the one their grandparents knew.

The Gironde prefecture and the regional council are simultaneously working on the creation of a property fund to acquire uprooted parcels and restructure the agricultural landscape, with the aim of making the first purchases in the first half of 2026, though the crucial step — bank financing — remains pending confirmation.

The Root Cause: A Broken Model

Laurent Dubois, ninth generation at the helm of Château Les Bertrands — founded in 1692 — puts it bluntly: he has decided to remove a fifth of his 320 hectares of vines to reduce production from 800,000 to 600,000 bottles per year, and is considering planting olive trees, fruit trees and walnut groves. “We will only produce the quantity we can sell,” he says.