The Bordeaux wine region has managed to avoid bad weather to record a seven-year high in its output, the body that represents the region’s wine producers has said.
Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) confirmed that it had not suffered the same adverse conditions that had cut output in many of France’s other large wine producing regions, and that made output fall to 3.84 million hectolitres in 2013 – still its worst harvest since 1991.
CIVB chairman Allan Sichel was quoted by Reuters as saying: “We are extremely pleased today about the 2016 harvest, mainly for its quality but also for the yields, more generous, which will bring us near a total output of 5.7 million hectolitres of AOP wine, something we had not seen since 2009.”
AOP wines, which carry protected designation of origin status, make up about 95% of all wine produced in Bordeaux.
It is one of the only French regions – along with Alsace in the east – where output has risen this year thanks to beneficial weather.
In contrast, Reuters reported, ‘heavy spring rain, followed by a hot and dry summer and wet conditions in September, severely hurt vines and output in many other regions including Champagne, Val-de-Loire and Burgundy’.
In all, French wine output is thought to be down around 10% on last year, according to estimates released in November by the Ministry of Agriculture.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024