Decanter World Wine Awards60 growers file for bankruptcy amid Muscadet 'meltdown'
- Tuesday 26 October 2010
According to Loire Valley wine broker Charles Sydney, around 60 Muscadet vignerons have filed for bankruptcy since this year’s harvest.
A total of 150-200 vignerons are expected to go out of business in the next few months.
Growers have been hit by a number of factors, including the after-effects of 2008’s devastating spring frost, which destroyed up to two-thirds of the crop - and now vineyards are being abandoned or neglected.
'It is also the warning of the coming meltdown of the market,' said Sydney.
'In just five years [in the UK], the effect of duty increases, VAT rates and the pound’s devaluation means that a £5.99 bottle will have gone from having €2.60 of wine in 2006 to a risible €1.38 in 2011.'
He said producers had held their prices and cut their costs, but added: 'Things are now critical and we are facing a situation where there are no obvious savings to be made.'
Have your say!
sauvion
October 28 09:32
the market,the pound,the crisis.....are not responsible for the muscadet situation,It's purely the responsability of the winemakers and shippers,who made mistakes themselves,did not properly plan their future.It's always easy to accuse evrything,and everybody,but ourself!
kindly
j e sauvion
charles sydney
October 26 18:19
For the consumer, the worst thing is that an 'average' consumer buying an 'average' £4.32 bottle is paying over 50% tax, while the government minister buying a bottle 10 times as expensive will be paying only 20%
The system is iniquitous and needs changing.
enrico fantasia
October 26 10:47
In Ireland is even worse, as excise duty and VAT rate are higher than in UK, so a bottle of wine that retails for €7 is having less than €1 wine.