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In its first estimates of this year's output, the ministry
estimated this year's wine production in France, the world's
second-largest producer, at 37 million to 38.2 million
hectolitres, down from 45.5 million in 2016.
The median value, at 37.6 million hectolitres, would be 17
percent less than last year's output and 16 percent below
average. That would be "historically low" and less than the
output in 1991, when vines were also badly hit by frosts. The
ministry did not say how far back its records go.
"This fall in production is primarily due to the severe frosts
in the spring, which affected, at a sensitive stage of the
vine's growth, all the wine-growing basins to varying degrees,"
the ministry said in a note.
Wine growers used candles, heaters and even the down-draught
from helicopters during the cold snap in April to try to save
crops.
France's wine output had already fallen in 2016 because of bad
weather. Champagne was among the worst hit, with the harvest
down more than 20 percent from the previous year as spring
frosts were followed by other problems, such as mildew.
This year's production in Champagne was expected to recover
slightly, up 8 percent, but still 9 percent below the 2012-2016
average.
Late April, frosts severely damaged the Bordeaux vineyard, which
could lose half its output from the large volume produced in
2016 and fall 40 percent below the five-year average, the
ministry said.
The Bourgogne and Beaujolais region, which suffered major damage
in 2016, were better off this year, with output expected to rise
14 percent.
The estimates were provisional and did not take into account the
weather until harvest, which usually takes place from August to
October in France.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, editing by Larry King)
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