EU wine reforms aim to tackle oversupply and climate change

Following a meeting in Brussels this week, the EU has unveiled a comprehensive plan to revitalise its wine sector. Looking ahead to 2025, the European Union has gathered to make a comprehensive plan to strengthen the resilience of its wine sector, addressing declining consumption, climate change pressures, and export uncertainties. The proposals focus on sustainability, market adaptation and reducing structural imbalances. The wine industry has faced significant headwinds in recent years, declining domestic wine consumption, shifting consumer preferences, and the growing impact of climate change have put pressure on both producers and policymakers to adapt. One of the headline measures is a proposal for “grubbing-up schemes”—programmes that provide financial incentives for producers to permanently remove vineyards in regions with persistent oversupply. This would help align production capacity with decreasing demand while ensuring that vineyards with high cultural, environmental, ...