French wine production will jump 20% this year, recovering from last year’s devastating spring frost, based on final estimates from the Agriculture Ministry.

Winemakers in France will produce an estimated 45.4 million hectoliters this year, equivalent to about 6 billion bottles and in line with average yearly output for the past decade. In a year made decidedly unaverage by record heat and drought, growing regions that received rain came out on top.

Champagne, Burgundy and Languedoc-Roussillon will produce some of their biggest vintages of the past fifteen years. That will help rebuild stocks, meet rising demand and possibly provide some price relief for consumers. In Bordeaux, a combination of frost, hail and drought resulted in a difficult year.

“The rain deficit from spring and the strong heat in summer reduced the potential in several areas, particularly in the South-West and Alsace,” the ministry said in a report this week. “However, several vineyards held up better, such as Charentes, Champagne, Burgundy and Languedoc.”

Last year’s wine harvest of 37.8 million hectoliters was one of the smallest of the past 60 years, after frost in April damaged almost the entire French growing area, to varying degrees.

And the winner is… Champagne

Champagne was the biggest winner of the 2022 weather lottery, after a prior year marked by losses to spring frost and disease.

Areas of higher rainfall on Météo-France’s summer precipitation map neatly overlaid the Champagne growing region. Rain in June charged soil moisture, allowing grapes to develop despite the summer heat, while disease was absent.

The volume of wine under the “Champagne” label will almost double to 2.98 million hectoliters from 1.54 million hectoliters a year earlier, the ministry estimates, about 190 million additional bottles. That will help meet rising demand for the sparkling wine, after three years of below-average production.

A “bountiful, high-quality harvest” means winegrowers were able to rebuild reserves that had been substantially depleted by the 2021 season, Comité Champagne said in September. Champagne shipments rose 32% in 2021 to 322 million bottles, recovering to pre-Covid levels, and market demand was up 9% year to date at the end of August, according to the wine board.

Burgundy good, Beaujolais bad

In Burgundy, production was well above the five-year average, and grapes were healthy, while volumes in Beaujolais were below average, hurt by drought and hail. In the combined Burgundy-Beaujolais region, the volume of wine with a protected designation of origin (AOP) will jump an estimated 59% to 2.41 million hectoliters.

Languedoc gets rain boost

In the south, Languedoc-Roussillon produced its biggest vintage in seven years, boosted by late summer rains, and as last season’s freezing damage stimulated fruit production in 2022. The region is France’s biggest production area by volume, and much of its wine is sold as bulk.

The region’s overall production rose 36% to 13.18 million hectoliters, according to the ministry’s estimates, with the share of AOP wine at 2.34 million hectoliters.

With higher volumes in Languedoc-Roussillon and a forecast for a bigger vintage in Italy, French bulk wine prices have been under pressure. Values for bulk reds and rosés have come down to around €0.90/liter in the first half of November from more than €1 in June and July, according to prices tracked by FranceAgriMer.

Bordeaux suffers again

Bordeaux suffered a third year of below-average production, battered by frost in April, hail in June and a summer-long drought. The volume of AOP wines is forecast to rise 10% to 4.23 million hectoliters, one of the smaller vintages of the past fifteen years.

Charentes going steady

In Charentes, rain toward the end of summer helped make up for frost and hail damage, and total wine volume was little changed from last year at 9.57 million hectoliters. Most of the locally produced wine is distilled into spirits, with Cognac makers such as Rémy Martin and Hennessy relying on the region’s ugni blanc grapes for raw material.

Industry lobby Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac has been pushing to expand the Charentes vineyard to meet rising demand, with nine liters of wine required to produce one liter of spirits. Cognac shipments jumped 16% in 2021 to 223 million bottles.

Drought hurt winegrowers in Alsace, Savoy and the Loire Valley, with harvests below the five-year average. The Jura region, of “vin jaune” fame, recovered from devastating frost in 2021, with volumes rising more than threefold to produce one of the biggest vintages of the past fifteen years.

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