EU sets rules for national wine crisis payments to growers

The European Commission has adopted Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2093, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 16 September 2026, setting out the rules under which Member States may grant national payments to support the wine sector in justified cases of market crisis. Signed in Brussels on 10 July 2026 by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the regulation covers three crisis measures: the distillation of wine, green harvesting and the voluntary grubbing up of productive vineyards.

The act supplements Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 (the single common organisation of the markets in agricultural products), and follows the enlargement of Article 216 of that regulation by Regulation (EU) 2026/471 of 24 February 2026. That earlier reform extended the scope of national payments beyond distillation to also cover green harvesting and grubbing up, empowering the Commission to define eligibility conditions, priority criteria, the market situations that justify the measures, and the method for calculating the payments.

Crisis criteria for distillation and green harvesting

For distillation and green harvesting, a Member State must demonstrate one or more of the following market circumstances, at national or regional level and for the eligible categories and colours of wine:

• a substantial increase in the latest available wine stocks at production level compared with the average of the five previous marketing years;
• a substantial decrease of the average wine market price at production level over the latest six months compared with the five-year average;
• a substantial decrease of cumulated wine market sales for the ongoing marketing year compared with the five-year average, provided the fall does not result from lower production.

Eligible beneficiaries for green harvesting are winegrowers whose holdings include only vineyard areas planted with a planting authorisation. For distillation, beneficiaries may be physical or legal persons producing or marketing wine, producer organisations, associations of producers, or distillers of grapevine products; where the beneficiary is not a wine producer, the Member State must ensure the economic benefit is passed on to the wine producers.

Payment ceilings and grubbing up

The maximum national payment per hectare for green harvesting may not exceed the direct cost of removing the immature grape bunches, plus a compensation of no more than 50% of the average value of the grapes produced in the same area over the previous three marketing years, plus an incentive of no more than 20% of those two amounts. For distillation, the ceiling per hectolitre is the cost of the operation plus a compensation of no more than 50% of the average market price over the latest six months, plus a 20% incentive.

For the permanent grubbing up of productive vineyards, a structural market imbalance must be shown, for example a substantial increase in estimated ending wine stocks over the previous five marketing years compared with the ten-year average, or production persistently above sales. The payment per hectare may not exceed the direct cost of grubbing up plus a compensation of up to 100% of one year’s loss of revenue. Only vineyards harvested at least once in the ongoing and two previous marketing years are eligible, and grubbed-up parcels must be recorded in the vineyard register for at least ten marketing years.

Coherence with the CAP and notifications

To prevent crisis support from becoming a permanent market outlet, Member States that have already used distillation or green harvesting payments for three or more of the previous five marketing years must, to obtain approval for an additional year, also make use of grubbing-up payments or include the permanent grubbing-up intervention in their CAP Strategic Plans. Requests for approval must detail the geographical scope, wine categories and colours, duration, budget and expected volumes, and approved measures must be notified to the Commission by 30 September each year.

The regulation entered into force on the day following its publication, allowing Member States to implement the measures during the coming marketing year. For a wine sector facing high international uncertainty and structural oversupply, the new framework gives national authorities a clear, harmonised tool to channel crisis support to growers while keeping payments proportionate and consistent with the wider Common Agricultural Policy.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 16.9.2026, p. 1 (official reference: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2093, CELEX 32026R2093).