French wine production expected to bounce back

They say don’t count your grapes before they’re harvested, but Agreste, the French Agricultural Ministry’s statistics department, anticipates that 44 million hectolitres of wine will be produced from the 2022 harvest, rebounding from last year’s low level.

That 44mhl prediction is around 16% higher than the 37.8 mhl reported for 2021 (though the International Organisation for Vine & Wine has last year’s production down as being even lower, at 34.2 mhl). This suggests that the country’s 2022 vintage will amount to a similar volume as 2019 (42.5 mhl) and 2020 (46.9 mhl).

The production of AOP wines is expected to rise by 27% compared to last year, and a 21% rise is predicted for IGP wines. However, it has been speculated that the production of wines for spirits will dip by -10% this harvest.

The twin viticultural perils of 2021, spring frosts and summer hailstorms, also occurred this year but proved to be less destructive. However, the heatwaves of recent months did result in fire and drought, with the latter in particular being cited as the reason for reduced yields in certain regions.

Despite the adverse conditions, there are regions predicted to produce above average yields, with the most notable rises being seen in Champagne (33% higher than the five-year average and 96% above the 2021 harvest) and Jura (54% above the five-year average and a staggering 227% higher than last year). The harvest from Burgundy-Beaujolais is expected to be 5% above the five-year average.

Aside from in the South-West and Charentais (-3% and -8% on 2021, respectively), every region in the report is forecast to produce more wine this year than last year. However, several regions are expected to fall short of their five-year averages, including: Bordeaux (-2%), the Loire (-1%), Alsace (-11%) and Savoy (also -11%).

This year’s scorching summer has also meant that some regions have begun harvesting significantly earlier than usual. To read more, click here.