RECOGNITION FOR MOUNTAIN WINE-GROWING

The new CMO of the wine-growing sector, community regulation 479/2008 concerning the common organisation of the wine-growing sector in substitution of 1493/1999, recognises the peculiarity of winegrowing in mountainous and steeply sloping areas, allowing
The new CMO of the wine-growing sector, community regulation 479/2008 concerning the common organisation of the wine-growing sector, which substitutes 1493/1999, recognises the peculiarity of winegrowing in mountainous and steeply sloping areas, allowing member countries to develop strategies to support such a heroic task.
In particular, the introductory comments recommend that, in order to avoid environmental problems, vineyards in mountainous areas, or on steep slopes or in some small island areas should not be uprooted.
Art. 104 of paragraph 4 specifically states that Member States can declare inadmissible the uprooting regulations of vineyards in mountain areas or on steep slopes, in accordance with the conditions shown in Reg. 555/2008 art. 68 (mountain areas at an altitude exceeding 500 m, excluding plateaux; areas with slopes above 25%; terraced areas).
The new regulations for uprooting vineyards grant an allowance to vine-growers who decide to clear vined areas during the 2010/2011 campaign. In mountainous areas or on steep slopes, for just a few Euros, this would risk jeopardizing centuries of man’s hard work to adapt the steep slopes to vine-growing and altering the hydrogeological stability of the mountainsides.
In paragraph 9, article 104 also provides for member countries giving producers in areas excluded from the uprooting regulations priority for other means of support included in the regulations, in particular, where applicable, for restructuring and converting as part of rural support programmes and development measures.
“A first success – announces François Stevenin, President of the CERVIM – but there is still a long way to go. The CERVIM has been fighting for years for the survival of vine-growing in mountain areas and on steep slopes, for the protection and conservation of the rural environment and of the economic and wine-tourism activities that these areas are able to generate.”
In the next few months the CERVIM will be seeing that these provisions are adopted in member countries and will support any areas that are not fairly protected and supported, putting itself forward as a qualified interlocutor in one of the most important debates on work in Europe.