Written by by Staff Writer
Last year’s frost has seriously affected France’s key red wine harvest, according to the French Wine Chamber.
The Chamber’s Medium Term Vine Tyrolean Project announced Friday that the 2019 harvest will be smaller because of the damage done by the May freeze.
But overall, it added that the viability of the Italian grape varieties used for many different wines was safe.
“Only a minority of vintages could be threatened, notably its image, meaning its making,” it said in a statement on its website.
If this year’s red grape harvest is like last year’s it will be the first time in 20 years that French red wines have suffered a drop in the number of grape varieties used.
The Chamber said it had received 6.5 million requests for information since publication of its initial plan in late September, more than double the 3.3 million requests in 2017 and the highest ever.
A spokesman said that much of the new information requested in 2019 was technical, concerning the manipulation of ripening dates, which led to some wines being late for sale.
“We have become very interested in the future,” he said.
“But the most concerning issue from our point of view is the proliferation of requests for information on the chemicals involved in making red wine. We are now preparing a detailed debate with the government about this.”