The European Commission has taken exceptional measures to remedy the current imbalances in the wine market in various regions of the European Union. As part of national wine support programmes, Member States will now be able to include crisis distillation to remove surplus wine from the market. Thanks to today's decision, until 15 October 2023 it will be possible to distill the wine most affected by the market crisis. The distilled wine will be withdrawn from the market and the alcohol obtained can only be used for non-food purposes to avoid distortions of competition.

Flexibility was also granted in the implementation of the wine support programmes, allowing more flexibility for green harvesting this summer and increasing the EU co-financing rate for measures related to restructuring, green harvesting, promotion and investments. This will allow Member States to better adapt their measures to the wine market situation in the current year and to make better use of green harvesting to prevent or reduce potential wine surpluses for next year.

The wine sector is feeling the effects of the reduction in consumption due to the current inflation in the prices of food and beverage products which, combined with a good 2022 harvest and the consequences of the market difficulties during the pandemic, has led to an accumulation of inventories. This market context results in marketing difficulties for EU winegrowers and producers, in a fall in market prices and, consequently, in a serious loss of income, especially in some of the regions most affected by these trends.

The measures adopted by the Commission, after having been approved by the Member States during a meeting of the Committee for the Common Organization of Agricultural Markets, will help the sector to remedy the current imbalances.