The Great French Wine Drought

The figures are as alarming to wine buyers as they are pleasing to EU bureaucrats intent on stemming the source of the wine lake: Languedoc-Roussillon production in 2013 is approx 13.3 million hectolitres, in 2012 it was 12 million but in 2000, the 5 year average was 21 million hectolitres.

As in many other areas of Europe, the EU put in place a vine-pull scheme that lacked the discriminating criteria of vine age, commercial value, historical importance or common sense. Instead, we have seen vineyards of significant age, but poor yields, being pulled out when young, vigorous yet commercially indifferent vineyards have been left in the ground. Huge areas of vineyard have been lost, unlikely ever to return to grape cultivation.

That this has happened is deeply concerning but equally, subsidised seas of wine wasn't doing any of us any good either. However, there are signs that worse is yet to come. The average age of growers throughout the region is high at over 50 and there are few signs of enough young-bloods coming into viticulture. When the current generation of growers die, who will tend the vines? What incentive is there for them not to be pulled up?

Many growers have moved, if not in whole, but in part, to cereal production which although it does not give guaranteed high prices, does carry with it much greater flexibility than viticulture for following where the money is going. Coupled with all of these commercial pressures, the climate has become less predictable which in some instances, where the current crop and next year’s fruitfulness are affected, has commercial effects which last two years. The outlook is troubled.

The response of wine producers in the region is to withdraw from the price points which historically would have been their life-blood – they are no longer sustainable and other areas of the world, such as Spain, command those price points more confidently. The potential is to build more value in the extremely high quality that can be achieved in parts of the region. However,without the foundation of their historical business in place, they must be concerned for the long term as to whether that value can be grown quickly enough to compensate for lost volume and to convince the market that there is a premium to pay for keeping those venerable vines with their feet in the ground.