In an effort to address a deepening crisis in France’s wine industry, a public program managed by FranceAgriMer has removed 27,461 hectares of vineyards in a single campaign. This initiative offers vineyard growers a lump-sum payment in exchange for permanently uprooting their vines and agreeing not to replant on that land. The first call for applications, which closed on November 13, 2024, received 5,418 requests—nearly reaching the set limit without exceeding it. A quarter of the applicants have decided to permanently leave viticulture, signaling a significant shift in the sector. The underlying cause of this large-scale uprooting is not environmental, such as frost or disease, but rather structural overproduction in the wine industry. Despite a major distillation program in 2023 that removed over 4 million hectoliters of wine—equivalent to 10% of an average harvest—supply still outpaced demand. French wine consumption, especially of red wine, has been declining for years due to factors like inflation and export challenges. The southern regions of France, historically focused on producing mass-market wines, have seen the most uprooting, as these areas are most affected by the drop in domestic consumption. Among the applicants, around 1,300 vineyard growers have decided to completely exit the industry, covering 8,700 hectares. These growers did not use the compensation to switch to other crops or modernize their equipment. The program, intended to rebalance the market, has effectively become an exit strategy for an entire generation of growers who have reached their economic limits. The funding for this initiative came from a European crisis reserve linked to the war in Ukraine, enabling Paris to allocate 120 million euros quickly. However, the payment of 4,000 euros per hectare is considered much lower than the actual cost when considering soil restoration and future income loss. A second wave of similar magnitude followed, with a new call for applications opened in early 2026, receiving 5,923 applications covering 27,926 hectares. Of this, 37% involved total uprooting, and 63% involved partial uprooting. Over a third of the areas concerned belong to growers who are leaving the profession entirely. As a condition of the program, any grower who fails to fulfill their commitments will not be eligible for future aid to replant vines for the next six viticultural campaigns. Jérôme Despey, vice-president of the FNSEA and a winemaker in Languedoc, noted that many parcels included in the uprooting plan would still be harvested before destruction, allowing growers to recover some final revenue before the vines are removed.