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According to initial estimates by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), global wine production fell by seven percent to 244 million hectoliters last year compared to the previous year. If the organization ultimately confirms the numbers, they will be the worst numbers since 1961. The report is based on data from countries that accounted for 94 percent of global production in 2022. According to her, Czech winemakers produced about half a million hectoliters of wine in 2023. That is thirteen percent less than in the previous year.
The European Union produces more than half of the world’s wine. At the same time, most European vineyards faced problems in 2023. Extremely warm weather and floods played a major role in the reduced harvest and subsequent production, and some crops were destroyed by fungi, especially in Italy or Spain, which are among the leading wine producers. The instability of the weather also affected Czech producers.
“The year was atypical, full of temperature extremes that caused more and more difficulties for the vines. The high temperatures slowed the growth of the grapes and, after a few years, increased mold appeared. These factors in particular led to a decline in the harvest of ten to twenty percent compared to the previous year,” says Ondřej Beránek, President of the Winery Association, assessing the situation.
The director of the Wine Fund of the Czech Republic, Zbyněk Vičar, confirms the decline of Czech winemakers. “It is already expected to be significant, probably in the order of tens of percent,” he notes for e15. Before carrying out the evaluation, however, he wants to wait for the exact figures from the large producers, which the fund should receive around mid-January. According to him, in addition to unfavorable weather, producers also face competition from cheap wines imported from abroad.
Less Italian wine, more Romanian
While in the southern hemisphere, for example, a decline in production of ten to thirty percent was recorded in Australia, Argentina and Chile, in the northern hemisphere, in addition to Italy and Spain, Greece, for example, also suffered from poor conditions. On the other hand, producers in Germany, Portugal and Romania performed well thanks to more favorable weather and the USA also recorded above-average volumes.
“Overall low production is not good news, but lower consumption could help stabilize prices,” OIV statistics chief Giorgio Delgrosso told the BBC. Even in the most traditional wine-producing countries, wine consumption is generally declining and producers still have large stocks. Last August, France decided to address falling demand for wine by allocating 200 million euros to buy back its surpluses and then sell them to companies that use alcohol to make disinfectants or perfumes, for example.
Czechs drink up to 21 liters of wine per year
While global wine consumption reached 241 million hectoliters per year in 2018, it has fallen by almost nine million in five years. According to the Czech Statistics Office, it is still growing in popularity in the Czech Republic; in 2021, there were 20.8 liters of wine per inhabitant per year. Italians and French are still the largest consumers.
Italy has long dominated the European rankings in terms of production volume, but according to last year’s data, winemakers in France were more successful. But local weather problems didn’t go unnoticed either. The harvest in Champagne, for example, was good, while the famous Bordeaux vineyards suffered from heavy mildew infestations. Another well-known wine region, Languedoc-Roussillon, has been hit by extreme heat and drought.
Representatives from the ranks of experts and winemakers agree that climate change not only affects the amount of production, but also the type of varieties grown. “The winemakers in South Moravia are growing more red wines, which require a warmer climate, and fewer white wines, which is reflected in cooler conditions. In the past, the cultivation of red wines was rare in our country,” recalls Ondráš Přibyla, founder of the Climate Facts project.
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