Extreme weather ends Europe’s cheap-wine era
Extreme weather ends Europe’s cheap-wine era
Nov 15, 2012 6
(MarketWatch) - Drought, frost, floods and heavy rain this year have hammered grape harvests in Europe’s biggest wine-producing countries, prompting a spike in grape prices and marking an end to almost a decade of extremely cheap wine from the Continent.
Grape farmers in countries such as Spain, France, Italy and Portugal have found themselves forced to give up parts of this year’s harvest, while the U.K.’s largest vineyard decided to completely scrap production this season.
Overall wine production in Europe will be down about 20 million hectolitres — the equivalent of around 2.7 billion bottles of wine, and about twice the amount of Chile’s entire yearly production, according to Stephen Rannekleiv, executive director for beverage research at Rabobank.
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