Unfavourable weather and a bumper crop in 2018 have been cited as reasons for a fall in global wine production of around 10% in 2019.
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) reports that global wine output fell from 294 million hectolitres (mhl) in 2018 to 263 mhl this year with major wine producing countries France, Italy and Spain all down.
France and Italy saw a fall of 15% while Spain suffered a 24% drop.
‘This can be explained mainly by aleatory weather conditions, notably a very cold and rainy spring followed by an extremely hot and dry summer,’ the OIV told Reuters.
Production across the EU – which accounts for about 60% of global wine output – fell to 156 mhl, but there was better news in the USA where a preliminary estimate suggests just a 1% drop on 2018.
Elsewhere Argentina recorded a fall of 10%, Chile was 7% down and South Africa bucked the trend to report an increase of 3% to 9.7 mhl, although this was off the back of a drought-stricken 2018 vintage.
OIV’s global figures – which exclude juice and must – are based on data from 28 countries, representing 85% of world production.
