Major wine merchant Schenk, based in Rolle in Vaud, has told around 250 producers in Vaud and Geneva it won’t buy - or will only partly buy - the 2026 harvest.
In Geneva alone, that affects 17 estates and about seven percent of total production, wine that may have no buyer at all.
Growers say the market is saturated and prices won’t cover costs.
Schenk says the decision is unavoidable, blaming a deep, structural crisis in the wine sector.
With demand falling and imports rising, uprooting vines is now openly being discussed, and some fear bankruptcies are just months away.
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