Month in wine

French wine production down in 2019

Extreme weather including frost, drought, hail and high temperatures, has been blamed for a predicted fall of 12% in French wine output in 2019. France’s agriculture ministry added that this year’s estimated harvest puts it at 4% below the average national production over the past five years.

The full gamut of severe weather conditions have been thrown at French growers this year, from widespread heatwaves to violent hailstorms and wildfires, slashing overall production to 43.4 million hectolitres – down from 49.4m hl last year.

The regions of Burgundy and Beaujolais were particularly badly hit, with harvest volumes said to be down 26% year-on-year.

‘What we are seeing,.