Spring has not really started yet, and French winemakers are already estimating the damage that the current cold weather will do to their vineyards. The decline in this year’s harvest could mean up to 15 million hectoliters of wine less than the long-term average.
Yields from French vineyards could be 28 to 32 percent lower than usual due to spring frosts. “This year’s frost was something special. Also because it affected such a large part of the vineyard area and that it spread far to the south of the country, “said Ygor Gibelind from the wine division of the French FranceAgriMer for Reuters. France would thus produce about 32 million hectoliters of wine, which would be 4 million hectoliters less than in 2017, when winemakers were also plagued by unfavorable weather in the spring.
The frost hit traditional wine regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux the hardest, where cold weather affected 30 to 50 percent of the vineyards. If the current estimates are met, then the damage suffered by French winemakers could reach 1.5 to 2 billion euros. The French government has already announced that it will allocate around one billion euros to farmers who suffer damage as a result of unfavorable spring weather. Winemakers would also reach part of it.
