French winemakers to turn unsold wine into hand gel

French winemakers are to turn unsold wine into hand gel and ethanol to make room for this year’s production, the country’s farming agency has said.

The government agency FranceAgriMer said around 3m hectolitres needed distilling as a result of lower sales during the coronavirus crisis.

Winemakers have been hit by the closure of bars and restaurants in France and abroad. Exports to the US, which halved after the Trump administration introduced punitive 25% tariffs last October, fell further after the Covid-19 outbreak.

FranceAgriMer said that from Friday, 33 distilleries had been authorised to collect 2m hectolitres of unsold wine to transform it into ethanol or hydro-alcoholic gel in order to free up room in vintners’ caves for this year’s production.

The exceptional measure has been approved by Brussels, and the EU will finance the distillation, the agency added.

Winemakers have until 19 June to apply for the scheme and state how much wine they wish to transform. They will be paid €78 a hectolitre for appellation wine linked to a specific region and 58 for non-appellation.

Similar measures are being employed in Spain and Italy to deal with an excess of wine and to destroy young grapes.

The alcohol produced through the distilling process will be used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry and for the production of hand sanitising gel.

Didier Josso, the head of FranceAgriMer’s wine branch said: “The distilled wine will not in any case be used for the production of spirits.”

He added: “There will probably be a need to stock ethanol as well, but the quantity will be less significant than for wine.”

Around 500 Burgundy winemakers have donated 3,000 bottles, a third of them grands or premiers crus, to be auctioned in support of the region’s hospital staff. The first auction will take place on 13 June, and the grands crus will be auctioned on 22 June.

Burgundy winemakers say they have less stock than their counterparts in Bordeaux, but many have had only one full grape harvest in the last four years. Their vines were damaged by hail in 2016, by frost in 2017 and by frost and drought in 2019.

The Champagne region has been particularly hit by the coronavirus crisis, reporting drops in weekly sales of up to 64% during the lockdown compared with last year.