A combination of heavy frosts in April, heavy summer rains, hailstorms and episodes of mildew has battered the industry across Europe. The bloc’s three biggest producers – Italy, France and Spain – have all seen production fall considerably because of the inclement weather.
All three countries are expected to produce less wine than they did last year – when the world was ravaged by coronavirus and effective vaccines had not been rolled out.
Now, the problems have hit French wine producers so badly they are due to produce the least amount of wine annually since 1957 – a drop of four percent compared with 2020.
This was after it “suffered the most from the effects of a disastrous vintage,” according to observers.
The news comes as Mr Macron enters an election year as he battles to win a second term.
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Spain last overtook it in 2013 but it is set to reclaim second place after France’s wine production looks set to fall by a staggering 27 percent.
And while southern European producers have struggled, Germany’s industry has fared far better – growing production by four percent.
The same goes for the United States, which despite 2021 being marked by major wildfires, looks set to record a boost in production of six percent.
Southern hemisphere vineyards too bucked the negative trends that their southern European competitors have experienced.
This year was “very positive” with Chile up 19 percent to hit a 20-year high.
Argentina was snapping at its heel with a 16 percent boost.
This was narrowly ahead of the fledging wine-producer Brazil which recorded a staggering 60 percent boost.
Australia also saw its production increase by 30 percent, a record level since 2006.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega
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