According to the association "Ahr - A Wine Region Needs Help for Rebuilding", which was founded months ago, part of the money collected in the flood wine project will be used for packaging and shipping the flood wines. However, as far as the distribution of the remaining funds to the winegrowers affected by the flood disaster is concerned, there are plenty of problems. Hubert Pauly is president of the Ahr Winegrowers' Association, his business was completely damaged. He says: "We are all fed up. Everywhere it is being put on hold - the willingness to donate is declining because no one understands why the money is not being paid out. People need it for their daily necessities - but everywhere there is only obstruction.”

Wines rescued from the brown floodwaters were marketed by the Ahr Valley vintners as "flood wines". Bottles covered in mud and labeled "Vintage 2021" quickly enjoyed great demand - as a reminder of the greatest catastrophe since World War II. The goal of the vintners: As soon as government reconstruction aid is determined as well as which insurance sums will actually be paid out, the flood wine proceeds should be distributed, considered as donation income. These were "solidarity purchases" to help the beleaguered winegrowers. A bottle of this flood wine costs between 30 and 75 euros - considerably more than the wine of previous vintages.

Non-profit law as a stumbling block

"As of now, no donations can be distributed to companies. This means that the donations we have at the moment could, in the worst case, cost us our non-profit status," says the association, referring to a decree issued by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Finance on the flood disaster. The question now is whether or not the direct support of affected businesses is compatible with non-profit law. 

The rule is: "Associations or cooperatives, regardless of whether they promote non-profit or charitable purposes, are corporate entities that may not be supported because of personal need," the state clarifies. "For us, of course, this is a disaster," says Hubert Pauly. Per statute, the association had planned from the beginning to support the winegrowers' cooperatives with flood wine proceeds. The Dernau winegrower, who once managed the Burg Adenbach wine estate in Ahrweiler, has zero understanding for the bureaucratic wrangling: "We are in a catastrophe here, in an acute emergency." If someone is lying bleeding in the street, you don't ask whether the victim is Catholic or Protestant, an entrepreneur or an employee, before providing help. His fear: People could now completely lose their motivation to help. Pauly: "Help must be given immediately. What else?" The money, he said, was donated by people who had already paid taxes on it. Pauly: "After all, this financial help doesn't come from drug money!"

The 70-year-old wine-growing president said that his fellow residents had aged 20 years in one night. These people are "really in need", are in deep depression and now also feeling some aggression. He can only shake his head at the taxation hurdles. Pauly and other winegrowers from the Ahr Valley are now counting on talks that the state wants to hold with the federal government so that a solution can be found.

Orig. text: Victor Francke

Translation: ck