World wine production at lowest level in over fifty years

While excessive rain this year has penalized French grain and wine yields, the French farm is not the only one to bear the brunt of unfavorable weather. According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), extreme weather events in the thirty or so main wine-producing countries will cause global wine production to fall to its lowest level since 1961. According to the organization, the global harvest for 2024 will not exceed 227 to 235 million hectoliters (Mhl). This is 2% less than in 2023, already a gloomy year. But it is also the lowest quantity harvested since 1961 (220 Mhl). In Europe, it was the French vine that paid the heaviest price for bad weather (-23%, to 36.9 Mhl): excessive rains encouraged the development of mildew, while drought struck ...