Bordeaux
July 9, 2025A new President of the CIVB
Bernard Farges (winegrower) was elected for a three-year term as President of the interprofessional organisation, the CIVB. In his inaugural address, he outlined a roadmap co-developed by the winegrowing and wine-growing sectors, which focuses on four areas: reducing vineyards, innovating, boosting consumption (particularly through a shift in promotional investments toward sales transformation and wine tourism), and supporting exports. He also announced his desire to establish a joint viticulture/wine-growing presidency.
Bernard Fages' speech at the General Assembly of the CIVB, on 7th July 2025
Mr. Prefect of the Gironde and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mr. Prefect, I thank you for participating in our AGM and would like to acknowledge your commitment to the industry since your arrival in Bordeaux. Your availability, your attentiveness, and your effective support in advancing our projects here and in Paris are recognized by all.
Allow me, Mr. Prefect, ladies and gentlemen, to address Allan.
Dear Allan,
As you step down as President of the CIVB, I want to tell you how great a pleasure it has been to work alongside you. This pleasure has been a daily occurrence, and the work has been so easy and filled with complete trust.
Allan, you embody attentiveness, openness to others, availability, commitment, courage, loyalty... and elegance in all circumstances.
You have put all these qualities, all your qualities, at the service of everyone during each of your terms, here at the CIVB and the Trade Federation.
From Bordeaux to Bourg, from Margaux to Hong Kong, from Quebec to St Emilion, from Sauveterre to Listrac, in front of the King of England or in front of a colleague in a village hall on a winter evening, you are the same person, you listen to everyone the same way, you show the same respect for everyone.
Watching you has always been a lesson. For all of this, I thank you, Allan; we all say THANK YOU here!!!
This is a difficult time for everyone. Headwinds are building up, and those who thought they were spared are no longer so, here in Bordeaux and everywhere in the French and even global, sphere of viticulture.
Geopolitical tensions, the trade war between Europe and China, and the trade war between the United States and the rest of the world are creating a significant slowdown in the markets, in a context of declining consumption of alcoholic beverages throughout the world.
Liquidations, restructurings, a rapidly changing wine-growing landscape and territories, jobs lost, businesses drained in both winegrowing and trading, a deteriorating economic framework and impoverished villages—all this is before our eyes. Also before us are restructurings, abandonments, and other uprootings to come, temporary or permanent, because the wheels are in motion.
In this context, the two federations have worked on a roadmap for the next term of office, supported by both families, which expresses and carries a desire to adapt our actions and our joint work.
First, on the economic front. We are banning business practices that disregard the profitability of industry players. We are working to build tools that guarantee remunerative prices for industry players and for all wines. To this end, we are actively participating in the development of European and French legislation within the framework of the Egalim law.
The French economy is regulated: the law prohibits resale at a loss, and this threshold for resale at a loss is increased by 10%, i.e. the SRP + 10%; salaries are, at a minimum, those of the minimum wage and range above this threshold.
Everyone finds this quite normal and no one considers questioning it!
So, how can we, collectively, in the same economy, in the same country, accept that agricultural products, wines, are sold sustainably, even massively, below production costs?
The cynical and shameful illustration, revealing this, is the recent speech of a buyer from the Aldi chain who announced very calmly that "at €1.99 a Côtes-du-Rhône or a Bordeaux, it's still profitable, we respect the winemaker."
We know that if the law does not regulate this, there will always be buyers and sellers among us who will kill our businesses a little more every day.
To support and manage our sector more precisely, we want to build solid cost and market monitoring indicators, in particular by setting up the collection of sales prices of our wines from the sector. Other regions have been doing this for a long time, we are finally aligned among ourselves to create this tool to understand our market with both eyes open and not just one eye looking exclusively at the price of bulk.
Secondly, on the promotional aspect.
We will shift our marketing actions and investments toward more sales conversion in France and abroad, highlighting our AOCs, our winegrowers, and merchants as the frontrunners of our collective actions. The role of the ODGs will be strengthened within a framework of interprofessional reflection. Wine tourism will be supported to take advantage of the image it brings to our region, our businesses, and our wines.
Thirdly, the technology aspect.
We will continue to pool our resources with other regions and the government. We will increase our efforts on mildew and product profiles. Our strengthened pooling efforts over the past few years, such as the PNDV (National Development Plan) and new grape varieties, are very effective; we must and can go even further.
On economy and research, sharing of these subjects is long-standing, they will be strengthened and deepened.
Only promotion and marketing have only been rarely been shared between wine regions, if ever. The economy, as we just mentioned, has been shared for a long time. We've been doing it on the technical side for several years. And on promotion, nothing. The marketing department directors from all the regions didn't know each other until a few months ago. The work has begun, and the loss of image and consumers isn't just being noticed here in Bordeaux.
To continue to imagine that our competitors will always be the Côtes du Rhône, Burgundy or others is to forget quickly that they too need to win over new consumers.
We must invest together in France and abroad in a number of measures.
Furthermore, we will have to make choices in the coming weeks regarding the priorities that the French wine industry will want to set when it comes to defending future European budgets within the framework of the future CAP (Common Agricultural Policy).
Do we wish to continue, as we have been doing for the past 15 years, to prioritize cellar facilities, buildings, and bottling lines, do we want to continue to prioritize public aid for the restructuring of the wine region, or do we want to use this aid more to support our markets and sell more wine?
Our discussions in Bordeaux show that we will have an influence on decisions in Paris to invest more massively in promotion and wine tourism, but it will be an uphill battle.
On the governance front, the two federations intend to initiate a change to the CIVB's statutes this autumn to allow for the establishment of a co-presidency for this term, as soon as our statutes are validated by the State. This co-presidency could be implemented in future mandates if the families so wish.
Some may call it a gadget, others may find it modern and unconventional, it is simply the result of a strong desire on the part of the trade, in a context of crisis, and this stems from the roadmap co-constructed by the two families, viticulture and wine trade.
Reducing the size of the wine region, innovating, boosting consumption and supporting exports are the four main focuses of the national wine industry plan.
In Bordeaux, we have put a lot of our money on the table along with the government for uprooting, and we were the first to take responsibility for it. Innovation translates into new products: Claret, Médoc whites, and work on our product profiles.
We intend to achieve this recovery by shifting our investments towards sales transformation, towards wine tourism, and through promotional activities with other regions.
Export support will be achieved through the allocation of more European funds and the use of the French banner. Reduce, innovate, relaunch, export. This is the direction we are setting for ourselves here in Bordeaux.
The sky is not clearing yet, we all know that.
We are witnessing a profound and painful restructuring of our entire economy, with tragedies on a family and human level.
Here at the CIVB, with our resources significantly reduced, we are adapting as all businesses adapt.
Elected officials are shaken, of course, but they express clear and assumed choices, after having supported uprooting and distillation, today give support for actions on the market and arbitrations of European funds towards promotion.
With selected winegrowers and wine merchants, whom I know are committed and present within our organizations and a team of equally committed staff members fully aware of the industry's challenges, rest assured that we will carry out all of these objectives.
Thank you.
