High-Level Group on Wine outlines policy recommendations for the future of the EU wine sector

The High-Level Group on Wine Policy has issued a set of recommendations aimed at securing the fitness of the EU’s wine sector. These recommendations were endorsed by the 27 EU countries and shared with representatives of key stakeholder organisations at the Group’s final meeting. The Group calls on the European Commission to assess how and when these proposals can be embedded in the EU wine policy framework underlining the need to support wine producers and regions across Europe to adapt to a challenging future. Commissioner Hansen attended the last meeting and delivered closing remarks highlighting the importance of the recommendations and the Group’s collaborative efforts.

The Group’s recommendations consist of a series of targeted policy actions to address the challenges facing the wine sector and focus on three key areas: aligning wine production with demand, boosting resilience to market and climate challenges, and adapting to trends to seize new market opportunities.

First, the recommendations recognise the strength and high potential of existing policy instruments, emphasising the need to optimise their use, but conclude that these tools can be adjusted and reinforced to address the challenges for the future to ensure the sector’s continued success.

The Group emphasises the need to manage wine production potential to address structural over-supply following a coherent, strategic approach at a national level, with measures tailored to enhance competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience. These tools include targeted grubbing-up schemes for certain regions or wines, a temporary modulation of production potential through a more flexible management system for the vine planting and replanting authorisations, or mechanisms to facilitate adjusting grape yields. 

The group also underlines the need to strengthen the resilience of wine growers to market and climate risks by fighting unfair trading practices more effectively, and better targeting support for enhanced risk management tools, and innovative insurance solutions, and the aligning of investments with climate change adaptation plans. When it comes to the common agricultural policy (CAP) budget for the wine sector, the Group recommends to give flexibility for the financial management and the amendment of national support programmes dedicated to wine to allow faster reaction to market or climate events.

Lastly, the Group underscores the need to facilitate the adaptation of the sector to changing consumer preferences and global market trends by improving data collection, facilitating the techniques for and the promotion of grapevine products attuned to new tastes and demands, including de-alcoholised wines, and supporting innovation. It also highlights the opportunities for the sector in promoting the EU wines as messengers of sustainability, landscape protection, rural development and culture, the importance of facilitating direct sales from producers to consumers, and the need to foster oenotourism.

Background

The EU wine sector is a pillar of the EU’s cultural heritage and makes a vital contribution to the EU’s economy, society, and rural areas.  EU wine is linked to values such as tradition, sustainability, landscape protection, culture, gastronomy, and tourism, and has a huge importance for the economic sustainability of rural areas and population. 

The High-Level Group on Wine Policy was established to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the wine sector. It reflected on how to better support the sector in facing current challenges, enhancing competitiveness, and exploring new market opportunities. Decreases in consumption and changes in its patterns call for adjusting the production potential and for facilitating the development of products more in tune with consumer preferences, which requires a reactive legal framework and better information about consumers. 

While the EU is the global leader in wine production (60%), consumption (48%), and exported value (60%), societal and demographic changes are impacting the amount, quality,y and types of wine consumed. Wine consumption is at its lowest level in the past three decades. Consumers more and more prefer fresher and lighter wines or other beverages that are easier to get and drink. Traditional export markets for EU wines are impacted by a combination of de-consumption and geopolitical factors, leading to more uncertain import patterns. In addition, production is becoming unpredictable, given the wine sector’s extreme vulnerability to climate change. The Commission is working with EU Member States to help the wine sector adapt to these complex new realities. The latest data on the wine sector can be found in the Wine Market Observatory.