Sud de France Label Will be Banned

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8 December 2025

From the 2025 vintage onwards, the Sud de France label will be permanently banned from wine bottles, after a ruling by the Conseil d’État on 3 December 2025 confirmed that the term does not meet the criteria for a recognised geographical indication under EU rules.

The label, launched in 2006 to promote wines from what is now the Occitanie region, including the former Languedoc-Roussillon territories, has long served as a unifying brand for a wide range of wines. According to the Conseil d’État, “Sud de France” fails to correspond to any legally defined locality, administrative area or officially recognised wine region, rendering it too vague under the relevant provisions of the EU’s wine-labelling regulations.

For shoppers in the UK and elsewhere, the change could soon become tangible on supermarket shelves. For instance, wines such as Pierre Jaurant Sud de France Rosé I featured, sold by Aldi, will need to be relabelled for the 2025 vintage. The decision has sparked dismay within the industry. Union of Southern French Wine Companies (UEVM) has estimated the cost of removing the logos, redesigning packaging and relabelling at roughly €70 million. Some commentators even view the ban as a strategic error, removing a collective marketing tool that helped wines from southern France compete internationally.

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