France forecasts 18% drop in wine output after adverse weather
PARIS — Bad weather has walloped wine production in France, with output expected to be 39.3 million hectoliters this year, down 18% from last year, the farm ministry said last Friday.
The figure is below an initial range of 40 million-43 million projected last month.
The lower wine production was particularly high in the Jura, Charentes, Val de Loire, and Beaujolais-Bourgogne regions, the ministry said in a statement.
“This decline is due to particularly unfavorable climatic conditions which have reduced the production potential in almost all wine-growing areas,” it said.
Like other crops, including cereals, grapes have suffered from heavy rainfall in France over the past year.
These helped the spread of diseases among vineyards, the ministry said. In addition, many of them experienced so-called coulure, a fall in flowers and young berries due to humid and cool conditions during flowering.
The revised forecast was 11% below the five-year average of 44.2 million hectoliters. A hectoliter is the equivalent of 100 liters, or 133 standard wine bottles.
Wine, along with spirits, is one of France’s biggest export earners. The sector is facing declining domestic consumption, which has hit some production areas such as Bordeaux, contributing to recent protests by farmers.
Winemakers in the Bordeaux region agreed on a plan to uproot 8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of vines this year to meet the drop in output. This, combined with losses due to coulure, mildew, and hailstorms are set to lead to a 10% reduction in output after a drop in 2023.
In Champagne, the ministry expected output to be 16% lower than in 2023, also hit by diseases, spring frosts and scalding.
Champagne producers had called in July to cut the number of grapes harvested this year after sales of the wine fell more than 15% in the first half of the year.
Charentes, the second-largest wine-producing region after Languedoc-Roussillon, was set to record a 35% fall in production compared to a record 2023 year despite a rise in area, due to a low number of bunches and poor flowering due to humid weather, the ministry said.
The fall in wine output comes as wine consumption is waning in France. Sales in supermarkets fell more than 5% between Jan. 1 and Aug. 11, with an 8.5% drop in volume for red wines and a nearly 6% drop for rosés while white wine sales were nearly flat, farm office FranceAgriMer said in a note. — Reuters
