The Japan Times - French wine harvest set to hit historic low

At around 35 million hectolitres the total harvest would be down two percent on a mediocre 2025 yield and 14 percent below the 2021–2025 average, according to estimates published Wednesday by the ministry of agriculture.

According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), which tracks global statistics on wine production and consumption, France had already recorded last year its lowest production since 1957.

This latest decline is down not just to hot weather, which has been slightly mitigated by recent rainfall, but also a reduction in cultivated areas -- pared back 1.9 percent in the past year.

Some southern areas, already battered by the heat in 2025, have nonetheless seen production rise this year, notably Bordeaux.

There, despite a five percent decrease in cultivated areas production is set to come in up 10 percent on 2025, albeit still 11 percent below the 2021-2025 average.

For the southwest the rise is around 12 percent, essentially a return to the previous four-year average.

The Champagne region fared less well as growers had to harvest exceptionally early after the extreme heat sped sugar buildup -- and hence natural alcohol production.

The harvest there wrapped up in September for the first time with production down by half on last year and the five-year average.

In Champagne, producer Claude Mandois reported harvesting three-quarters of an average yield in terms of volume although "in terms of quality visually and in terms of taste we had an exceptional harvest."

In Burgundy and the Beaujolais region, production is projected to be 30 percent lower than the five-year average.

"It's a level of heterogeneity I've never experienced before," said Jerome Despey, chairman of the wine advisory board at the public agency FranceAgriMer and a winegrower in the southern Herault department.

In the south, "we’ve seen that vines have been more resilient to the climate," he said, with previous intense heat spells causing growers to adapt vineyard management practices such as largely leaving leaves to protect the grapes.

Southern regions also benefited from May rainfall.

The ministry and the industry emphasised overall the "excellent health" of the harvest, free of fungi and other moisture-related diseases.

K.Abe--JT