Commission extends vine planting rights to support wine producers

The Commission will extend by one year the validity of planting and replanting authorisations expiring in 2024 in regions affected by drought or excessive rainfalls. This concerns particularly several regions in Spain, Italy and France. The Commission’s proposal was accepted on 24 July by Member States and will be adopted in the coming weeks. It will prevent affected wine growers from losing their authorisation due to extreme weather events and allow them to plant vines in 2025.

According to the legislation in place (article 62 of Regulation 1308/2013), vine planting and replanting authorisations are in general valid for 3 years from the date on which they were granted. Within the period of validity of each given authorisation, wine growers will usually take the decisions on the varieties and type of wine to produce in the new vineyards, prepare the soil in autumn or winter, and source the new vines, which are then planted during spring since spring is the most suitable period of the year for planting.

However, Spain and southern Italy have been suffering from persistent drought while excessive and continuous rain impacted northern Italy and France. Regions in other Member States have also been affected. As result of these exceptional weather conditions, wine growers have not been able to perform certain operations in time -for example preparing the soil - necessary for planting vines and therefore may risk losing their soon-to-be expiring authorisations. This comes in a context when the wine sector is already suffering from unfavourable market conditions.

This is why the Commission decided that the validity of planting and replanting authorisations will be extended for 12 additional months as of their current date of expiration in 2024. This extension concerns authorisations expiring in 2024 and meant to be used in the regions identified by Member States as having been affected by drought or excessive rainfalls in Winter or Spring 2024.