Row continues over €1.39 bottles of French wine in Lidl supermarkets

Farmers and winemakers smashed bottles of wine at a supermarket in the south-east of France to protest prices of just €1.99 per bottle of Côtes du Rhône, and €1.39 for the second bottle purchased. 

As well as that show of dissent in Orange (Vaucluse),  angry farmers placed stickers on the bottles with the hashtag Balance ta grande distribution, meaning ‘denounce your supermarkets’, at a Lidl supermarket in Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard). They did not damage or smash bottles. 

The protests were organised after winemakers discovered the prices of the bottles when shopping, with local farmers mobilising quickly to show their discontent. 

“Bottles have been sold for the already too low price of €1.99 in previous years but the €1.39 for the second bottle is the last straw,” said Benoit Lurie, winemaker in Vaucluse. 

In both cases wine was taken off the shelves following the protests and then returned and sold in the days after. 

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“Our protests did not slow them down,” Mr Lurie said. “They sent us a press release explaining that they had too much stock but all the wine was sold.” 

If wine continues to be sold at this price, the farmers unions will need to “shine another spotlight” on the issue, whatever form that may take such as protests or education. 

“At this price, it costs us more to produce this bottle than the final price for which it is sold, considering the glass bottle, the sticker, transport, petrol, etc. Winemakers work for a loss with this price,” said Thibaut Trucchi, union organiser for the Jeunes agriculteurs du Gard. 

“The supermarkets want to lower the prices as much as possible, but the winemaker has costs that cannot be minimised, such as hours of labour.” 

The price of wine

Mr Trucchi believes that these bottles of wine must be sold for at least €5 to avoid a loss.

Mr Lurie emphasises that winemakers need to make €1.50 per litre of wine and that with Lidl prices, they are making only €0.70 or €0.80. He believes that bottles sold for €3.50 would be enough for farmers to live off whilst yielding profit for retailers and suppliers. 

He gives the example of Côtes du Rhône being an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) wine, meaning that it needs to be made in a certain place and way in order to be called a Côtes du Rhône. 

“We are limited to a certain amount of litres per hectare to ensure the quality of the wine. These prices could be cost-effective for different wines, with a higher yield per hectare.

“Any AOC bottle must be sold for at least €3 and then the sale price can be divided between the winemaker, the supplier and the retailer. We are not even getting a third of the lower prices at the moment.”

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Decreasing consumption

“The real problem is the traders who collect from winemakers who say to us: ‘Help us free up some volume because our storage is full,’” said Michel Biero, vice-president of Lidl France, on the set of C L'Hebdo on France TV. 

Wine consumption is decreasing in France with winemakers are decreasing their production accordingly. 

“In 2024 we produced 950,000 litres of this appellation as opposed to 2 million ten years. I would be surprised if the consumption of wine more than halved in just a decade,” said Mr Lurie, “but in any case we have decreased our production.”

He believes that the negative image of wine in terms of health effects is partly responsible for the decrease. 

Importing wine

Mr Trucchi said, “Some wine bars and events are doing very well so everything is not all negative, people do still like wine. In fact, the consumption of wine matches up almost exactly with wine production in France but we import wine from abroad. Stopping importing would solve a lot of problems.”

Read more: Why queueing at French markets is often worth the wait 

Lidl response

Speaking to The Connexion Lidl said: "We are well aware of the difficulties faced by winemakers. In France wine consumption, particularly of red wine, has been falling sharply for several years.

"We do not negotiate the wines we buy: we accept offers to free up stock.

"We understand the discontent, although Lidl has always been open to dialogue with our partners and suppliers.

"We are calling on the public authorities to intervene in the French wine industry. All the participants need to pull together. The solution must be found collectively."