In Occitania, almost no product from local agriculture escapes the Sud de France brand. Since its launch in 2006 by the Languedoc-Roussillon region, jars of honey, packets of biscuits, fruits and vegetables and, above all, Occitan wines, have proudly displayed its logo, which is now essential. A way to clearly identify their origin, particularly on the ultra-competitive international market. But on bottles of Pinard, South of France, it’s almost over.
This summer, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, confirmed to the Occitanie wine interprofessional associations his desire to see this mention disappear from the labels, by the 2025 harvest, deeming it “non-regulatory”. Already, in 2022, while the South of France was already in the state’s plight, the services of the Occitanie prefecture had indicated to 20 minutes that “European regulations relating to the wine sector reserve the use of a geographical mention only for the labels of wines benefiting from an AOP or an IGP, the specifications of which provide for specific reference to a geographical unit larger than that of the AOP or the IGP”. However, the prefecture had detailed, “the name Sud de France does not correspond to a geographical area in the regulatory sense (…) The Sud de France brand cannot be used on wine labels without a geographical indication either”. IGP Pays d’Hérault, IGP Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert or AOP Fitou, it’s on point. South of France, no.
“In Florida or Texas, the IGP Hérault, no one knows where it is! »
Thus, for strict regulations to be applied, the State wants that within two years, the umbrella brand, which Georges Frêche, the former president of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, had created, will disappear from local wines. And that doesn’t please the winegrowers at all. In a joint press release, the region’s unions and wine federations expressed their “stupefaction”. “As we enter a terrible crisis, of which we know that the outcome is exports, for the government to choose this moment to forbid us from putting Sud de France on our wine bottles, we must do it, anyway ! “, entrusted to 20 minutes Denis Verdier, president of the IGP Sud de France wine federation. “In France, the drop in consumption is considerable. We must go, more than ever, to export, to maintain, even to develop viticulture… And it is now that the government is waking up to tell us “You can no longer use the Sud de France brand”! The choice of tempo is astonishing. »
Because for Denis Verdier, indicating the IGP and AOP on wine bottles is essential, because they demonstrate the seriousness and quality of the winegrowers’ work. But that is not enough. “In Florida or Texas, the IGP Hérault, no one knows where it is! “, he assures. “If you indicate Sud de France on the bottles, it’s immediately clearer. It speaks more. » “For more than sixteen years, [la marque Sud de France] has proven itself commercially, particularly in exports, deplore the winegrowers, confirms Gilles Gally, the president of the Syndicat des houses de négoce du Languedoc. This common banner is very readable and understandable for consumers around the world. »
“A bureaucratic decision”, exclaims Carole Delga
However, assure wine professionals, “legal solutions, assessed by a firm”, have been presented to the State, so that the Sud de France brand does not disappear. But nothing worked. “The Minister of Agriculture and his services know how to find legal solutions when they take the trouble to do so,” protest the unions and winegrowers’ federations. Carole Delga (PS), the president of the Occitanie region, also deplores this desire of the State to strip winegrowers of their beloved umbrella brand. It is a “bureaucratic decision”, which “denotes the lack of ambition of the government in favor of the development of the wine sector, today preferring cyclical measures to strategic ambitions”, worries the Occitan elected official.
The Occitanie region now intends to work, with wine professionals, on “the creation of a new powerful identifier, to support the marketing of regional wines”. An identifier which could be affixed to the bottles, without the State bothering the region and the winegrowers. After the harvest, in a few weeks, a “consultation meeting” must however take place, between State services and representatives of the wine industry. But the latter fear that, whatever happens, the fate of the Sud de France brand on wine bottles will be sealed.