The Bordeaux Wine Bureau is opening a 'wine hotline' for winemakers and negociants to call for advice, particularly those in economic difficulty.

This will go live at some point during October, and is a free number to call for them to get information of who to contact etc - an advisory service that will then pass them over to existing organisations who will be able to help (eg banks, vineyard sales firms, chamber of commerce, debt mediators etc). They will answer a checklist - like the swine flu hotline! - to decide the right place to send them, as quickly as possible.

The aim is to speed up process of finding info and getting help, and will apparently remain in existence for 'as long as it is needed' (according to a spokesperson).

The partners are:
CIVB
All the people housed within the CIVB (Chambre Fédérations des Grands Vins ; Fédération d’Agriculture de la Gironde ; la Chambre de négoce, Syndicat des Courtiers)
Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Bordeaux
La FDSEA ; les Jeunes agriculteurs
Les Collectivités : Conseil régional et général
La Fédération des Caves Coopératives,
Les administrations : DDA, Douanes, Fraudes, France/Agrimer, INAO
La Mutuelle Sociale Agricole (MSA)
Le Secteur bancaire avec le Crédit agricole
La SAFER (the land registry)

An interesting solution to the crisis, I will keep an eye on this to see if it actually does any good!