The harvest is almost complete and the French Ministry of Agriculture estimates this year’s production at 36 million hectoliters (1 hectoliter is 100 liters). As recently as September, estimated production was 37.4 hectoliters. That was also already 16 percent lower than the five-year average, writes the U.S. news agency Bloomberg.
France was hit last summer by the largest fires since 1949. In 24 hours, an area of more than 16,000 hectares burned, which is more than one and a half times the size of the municipality of The Hague. These fires damaged large tracts of vineyards.
The heat waves and drought also caused the grapes to ripen quickly, writes the French ministry. The rapid ripening left the grapes small, with less juice, so less wine could be made from them.
