Agriculture

What is the current situation of the European Union's wine sector?

E-Bacchus is the database of the geographical indications protected in the Community for wines originating in the Member States and the third countries.
It contains only the geographical indications recognised under the terms of the provisions of the Council Regulation (CE) n° 1493/1999 and does not contain the geographical indications of the third countries protected under the terms of bilateral agreements.

The data appearing in this database can be modified.

The EU is a leading producer of wine. Producing some 175m hl every year, it accounts for 45% of wine-growing areas, 65% of production, 57% of global consumption and 70% of exports in global terms.

Since the introduction of the common market organisation (CMO), the wine market has developed considerably. In brief, it has been characterised by a very short initial period of equilibrium, followed by a very marked increase in production against a constant level of demand, and finally, a continuous decline and a very noticeable qualitative change in demand from the 1980s. These changes have been dealt with by significantly developing the CMO.

It started out very liberal, with no curbs on plantings and very few market regulation instruments (the aim being to confront the annual variations in production). It then coupled freedom on plantings with the virtually guaranteed sales, thus generating serious structural surplus. From 1978 it became very interventionist with the ban on planting and the obligation to distil the surplus. Towards the end of the 80s financial incentives for giving up vineyards were reinforced.

The 1999 reform of the CMO for wine strengthened the goal of achieving a better balance between supply and demand on the Community market, giving producers the chance to bring production into line with a market demanding higher quality and to allow the sector to become competitive in the long term - especially in the face of increased global competition following GATT - by financing the restructuring of a large part of present vineyards.

This reform proved insufficient to reduce wine surpluses and considerable sums still had to be spent on disposing of them. A new reform of the wine market was needed.

The reform adopted by the EU in 2008 has the following goals:

making EU wine producers even more competitive - enhancing the reputation of European wines and regaining market share both in the EU and outside
making the market-management rules simpler, clearer and more effective – to achieve a better balance between supply and demand
preserving the best traditions of European wine growing and boosting its social and environmental role in rural areas.

After 2015, current EU restrictions on planting vines will be lifted, enabling competitive producers to increase production.

Homepage

Legislation

Statistics and Data

Production Potential

Third Countries

Management Committee

Lists

Reform of the wine sector

Labelling of allergens - authorized languages [pdf, 72 KB]
"Contains sulphites" in EU languages
[pdf, 49 KB]

Reports and studies:

"Results of the accession negotiations - wine" (07.2003) [pdf]

"Results of the accession negotiations - spirits" (07.2003) [pdf]

"Study on the use of the varieties of interspecific vines" (07.2003) [pdf, 2.7 MB!]