All about wine customs

Are you a winemaker? Are you planning to create your own winery? You are simply curious? Here is an article on everything you need to know about the French wine customs.

What is the purpose of French wine customs?

Like the customs between countries, the French wine customs prevents crimes and allows the management and the control of the professionals of the French wine industry. Numerous frauds have been reported recently, notably on false appellations, or "Frenchified" wines that are actually of Spanish origin.

The customs allows to protect the consumers from the possible drifts of the wine industry. Checks are supposed to be made within restaurants to verify that the wine that ends up in the customer's glass is really the one listed on the menu.

How do you make a declaration?

Since 2017, certain declarations relating to activities in this sector must be made online on the customs.gouv.fr portal. For these declarations, paper is no longer allowed.

To declare your grubbing up or even declare your stocks, it's pretty simple. Customs has recently improved and simplified the system in place. 5 online platforms are available to wine professionals to fill out the 6 declarations as easily as possible. To access these platforms, filling out a single form is enough.

You will find :

• The harvest and production declaration

Online service: harvest and production declaration [RECOLTE].

Attention: harvesters whose harvest is non-existent are exempted from declaration.

Operators who do not market their grape harvest or their wine production do not have to declare their harvest and production, regardless of the area of vines cultivated or the quantity of wine produced.

• The declaration of production of cooperative wineries

Online service : [VENDANGES]

Attention: the cellars whose production is non-existent are exempted from declaration.

• The production declaration of wine merchants and producers of derivative products

Online service : [VENDANGES]

Attention : the traders whose production is non-existent are exempted from declaration.

• Stock declaration

Online service: declaration of wine and must stocks [STOCK].

Attention: operators whose stocks are non-existent on July 31 are exempted from declaration.

• Declaration of oenological practices

Online service: declaration of oenological practices [OENO].

• Declarations of planting, grubbing-up, overgrafting and declarations of entry of parcels to update your CVI (computerized vineyard register)

Online service : [PARCEL]

Attention: You have a maximum of one month to declare planting work.

How to know which declarations to make ?

To know which declarations you have to make, here is a summary according to your activity.

You are :

• a non wine grower : RECOLTE - PARCEL
• a winemaker : HARVEST - PARCEL - STOCK - OENO
• a cooperative winery : HARVEST - STOCK - OENO
• a wine merchant : VENDANGES - STOCK - OENO
• a non wine merchant : STOCK - OENO

You just have to create your account on douane.gouv in the "register" section. You must then subscribe to the dedicated online services by filling in the wine online services subscription form, a document which contains an explanatory note. Finally, you must send the form to your viticulture department to allow you to access the necessary tools.

You now know how wine customs works!

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