Thousands of litres of wine were decanted in the streets of France this week, bursting from their containers and causing rubiginous tides near the southern city of Sete.

The local branch of the Comite Regional d'Action Viticole (CRAV) claimed responsibility for the flood on Wednesday, telling regional broadcaster France 3 that they were fighting against the "Spanishisation" of wine.

Specifically, they pointed to wine importers choosing to bring in swill from Spain - or even Chile and Argentina - while the wine cellars of local producers in France still have "vin" to sell.

"We cannot continue like this, so I think we go further and further," a CRAV representative told the broadcaster.

Between 20,000 and 50,000 litres of wine spilled out onto the streets near Sete around midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, released from five wine tanks owned by Biron distributor.

Police and firefighters responded to the waves of wine shortly thereafter, which threatened to flood an underground parking lot.

Photographs from the site show swirling dark vino completely covering a street.

French wine producers have targeted cheap imports in the past few months.

Similar stunts that have seen highways covered by wine released from tankers importing Spanish wine, in what has been dubbed the "guerre du vin".

- dpa