2023-09-04 18:32:28
Two years ago, this would have satisfied the trading houses, in search of eau-de-vie to meet rising demand. Except that the economic context has changed, with a decline in sales observed since the second half of 2022, particularly in the United States. To adapt to the fall in the market and the new “business plan” of the interprofession, updated last May, the permanent committee of the BNIC validated this Monday, September 4 a maximum authorized (marketable) annual return of 10, 50 hl of pure alcohol per hectare (AP/ha).
We must make this situation an opportunity.
This figure, revealed during the traditional harvest meeting of the General Union of Winegrowers for AOC Cognac (UGVC), which was held at the end of the followingnoon at Castel de Châteaubernard, is much lower than that of last year (14.73) or 2021 (14.84).
Anthony Brun, president of the UGVC, during the harvest meeting which brought together more than 300 people at Castel, Châteaubernard.
Photo T.B.
This 2023 yield takes three elements into account: market needs estimated at 894,518 hl AP (compared to 984,331 last year), “or an average production target per hectare of 10.45 hl AP”; the agronomic reality specific to the year “with a (planned) wine production of 145 hl/ha and an alcohol content (TAV) of 9.8°”; and an “very great homogeneity of the harvest throughout the appellation”.
Strengthen the climate reserve
As a result of this “scissor” effect (rising harvest, falling demand), the interprofession is calling on winegrowers to “reconstitute a climatic reserve stock (read opposite) adapted to the needs of the sector ». “We have to turn this situation into an opportunity,” hammered in his speech the president of the UGVC, Anthony Brun, who recalled that this climatic reserve, “so useful when we go through hazards”, was, to date, not sufficient with only 89,000 hl.
To help winegrowers strengthen their climate reserve and finance it, discussions have been held with Crédit Agricole to propose “an innovative banking offer”.
The BNIC indicates that any surpluses might be directed to other outlets, but these volumes will have to be managed “with the greatest rigor and in compliance with the legislation and the major balances of our sectors”, he specifies.
A safety valve
The climatic reserve corresponds to a stock of eau-de-vie (10 hl AP/ha/cru) placed in stainless steel vats and therefore not subject to ageing. The eau-de-vie can thus be “released” and introduced into the production of a year, in the event of a poor harvest due in particular to climatic hazards. It can be made up between the authorized annual yield (10.50 hl PA/ha this year) and the stop yield (16 hl PA/ha). “This climatic reserve makes it possible to secure winegrowers”, recalls Anthony Brun, especially those victims of frost or hail. But also, as a backlash, the traders.
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