Following two years of terrible harvests, France will see a return to a more historically normal harvest after summer rains created a more positive growing season and promoted growth. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased its estimate for 2014 French wine production to approximately 47 million hectoliters – an increase of 11% over the past two years and a 3% increase over the historical five-year average. The department forecasts that the Bordeaux region will produce 6 million hectoliters of wine and the Champagne region could see a 20% increase in production over the five year average of 3.2 million hectoliters as a result of favorable weather. The drought over the past few years has cause some growers to see a 15% – 20% fall in output, and production last year was only 42.3 million hectoliters compared to the average from 2009 to 2013 being 45.6 million hectoliters, causing concern over supplies. The return to a normal harvest will help reposition France on the international market after exports have been declining, especially to the country’s traditional markets of the U.S., UK, and Germany.
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