Crisis as world’s most famous wine region rocked by third suicide | World | News

The globally famous premier wine region of Bordeaux, known for wines such as Médoc and Saint-Émilion, has been rocked by a number of suicides within its most important industry in the last few months. This week, a third industry-related suicide made headlines in both regional and national media.

Former winegrower Guillaume Petregne took his own life on December 31 in the northern Bordeaux suburb of Bouscat, not long after stepping back from his Château Guillaume property in the Médoc commune of Saint-Yzans-de-Médoc. While the details of the case have been described as “very complicated” by a long-time owner of the local bistrot in Saint-Yzans to regional radio station France Bleu, Mr Petregne had given an extended interview to another radio station, France Info, in September 2024, detailing the struggle to keep hold of the family business.

Mr Petregne, who was married with two children, had left his job to take on the family estate in Saint-Yzans in 2016, which had run well until 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump and the implosion of the Chinese market brought demand to a halt.

Eight years later, with no sales for a year and mounting debts – he admitted his letterbox was “overflowing” with unopened bills and reminder letters – he made the decision to step back from the vineyard. Of the seventeen hectares he farmed, following in his father’s footsteps, Mr Petregne had reduced his operation to three hectares, notably by participating in state-subsidised weed-removal programs – his last resort before ceasing all activity.

“I told myself: you can’t go on like this,” he said. “You have to stop before the bank comes and seizes the house, the furniture, and you find yourself like a homeless person living under a bridge.”

He admitted the decision to leave the 100-year-old family holding would “eat away at me until the end of my days” and that he was considering filing for bankruptcy before the end of the year.

The news of his death had clearly hit the local community hard.

“I cried on Saturday,” said Mr Petregne’s former neighbour, who had taken over the vineyard. “Sunday too, a bit. And that’s it. It hurts. Because when you stop, you know you still have the loans to pay, even if you have a job on the side.”

“It makes me very sad,” Sophie, the bistro owner, said. “It hurts, because I keep thinking it could have been my son. But it’s those who are left before that I think of the most – his family.”

Bordeaux’s wine industry has seen multiple recent suicides, highlighting the deepening crisis. In the spring of 2025, a winegrower from Saint-Magne-de-Castillon, Christophe Blanc, had his death linked to difficulties in the sector, including potential vineyard uprooting issues, among other contributing factors. Then, an unnamed young winemaker in the region died by suicide late last year, with local winemakers calling for urgent action to prevent further tragedies, stressing economic hardship and loss of dignity.

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