BORDEAUX, France -- Makers of Bordeaux wines have been told to reduce their output this year by an unprecedented amount because of overproduction and falling prices, the body that controls French winemaking said.

In response to a growing surplus of French wine in a tough global market, France's Institut National des Appellations d'Origine instructed growers in most French wine-producing regions to reduce output for the 2005 grape harvest -- but none by as much as Bordeaux.

Winemakers' unions there had already suggested lowering output by 10 percent to cope with falling prices.

But Bordeaux makers were told to reduce output by about 12 percent, the institute said in a statement.

In the first quarter of 2005, exports of Bordeaux fell by 11.4 percent in volume and 17.9 percent in value.

Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau praised "the determination of wine-growing professionals who have presented measures to reduce the current difficulties."

Bordeaux winemakers, unlike those in other regions, were slow to participate this year in a European Union-financed campaign that attempted to deal with surplus wine stocks.

Wine makers were offered an EU-fixed price for wine sold to distillers, who in turn received a pledge from the EU to buy up the alcohol they produced.

At the end of August, the president of the Interprofessional Council of Bordeaux Wines, Christian Delpeuch, acknowledged the distillation program had "failed" in Bordeaux and said wine production had to be limited.

In a bid to improve quality, growers who present each vat of wine for inspection, instead of a sample of the whole supply, will be allowed to produce extra wine.

All growers will also be allowed a supplementary stock to back up the 2006 harvest in case of bad weather, they added.

The new measure concerns "appellation" wines which carry France's AOC seal of origin and quality.