French winemakers are calling for national demonstrations to force the government to abandon its position on wine advertising. Last week, the AGPV said if a meeting with the PM or Minister of Agriculture was not granted, they will hold demonstrations across France on Oct 30. 'This is not the moment for the government to be hostile to the wine industry,' AGPV president Xavier de Volontat said. "We ask they abandon the idea of outlawing internet wine advertising & abandon the idea of raising taxes on wine.' There has been confusion over what constitutes wine advertising for some time, but the proposed new tax on wine, 16% being floated in recent weeks, would be the first tax hike in over 10y. In a press release AGPV said a hostile government was threatening wine jobs & businesses, made worse by the difficult economic climate & low volume of the 2008 harvest. AGPV represents 250,000 wine businesses and 500,000 people.
