Theft of spirits: when Charente wine growers pay 247,000 euros in taxes on siphoned alcohol

“A twisted, hallucinatory system, and a double punishment for the victims,” denounces Anthony Brun, president of the General Union of Winegrowers for the AOC Cognac (UGVC). Several Charente wine growers who have suffered theft of spirits in recent months have been asked for large sums of money by the State.

The customs administration in fact equates the volumes of stolen alcohol with missing volumes which should… be taxed, as if they had been marketed. According to the UGVC, the addition claimed from the winegrowers concerned currently amounts to 247,000 euros.

More profitable than taxing sales in France

After losing 5,000 liters of cognac discreetly siphoned from his barrels, one of them received the painful price: 84,000 euros. “Payments are even required in one go,” annoys Anthony Brun, citing the case of a wine grower forced to request a spreading of the debt “so as not to go out of business.”

Irony of history, agrees Anthony Brun: “Excise duties are only applied to volumes sold in France. Since 97.5% of cognac is exported abroad, it is almost more profitable for the State if the winegrowers are robbed…”

Charentais wine growers hope to “find solutions” and an attentive ear from the State. “Wine farms cannot be sacrificed because of a rigid and unfair interpretation of the regulations,” says Jérôme Bauer, president of the National Confederation of Wine and Spirits Producers with Appellations of Controlled Origin (CNAOC) in solidarity with Charentais winegrowers.