(RFI) - A Japanese couple who run an award-winning vineyard in the south of France have won a stay of execution on their deportation from France after a huge campaign to support them.

Some 53,400 people signed a petition asking the authorities to allow Rie and Hirofumi Shoji to remain on their tiny estate in the south-western town of Banyuls-sur-mer after they wererefused residency for earning too little money.

After studying wine-making, the couple started producing organic wines in 2016.

Their 2017 vintage won high praise and was ordered by high-end restaurants such as Michelin three-star Can Roca restaurant in the Spanish city of Girona.

But in April they were ordered to leave France after failing to prove they earned the minimum 2,000 euros a month required to show their business was viable.