Wine production may decrease by ten percent in France

Due to wild storms which hit France in April wine production may decrease by almost 10 percent this year – the ministry of agriculture announced on Thursday.

The unseasonably cool weather through the spring and into the summer will drag overall production down to 42.9 million hectolitres from 47.8 million a year ago.

Champagne was one of the worst hit regions after several bouts of spring frost and hailstorms which are forecast to drag output down by as much as one third, leading to harvesting being already a week behind schedule based on a 10-yearly average. (MTI)