FOOD & DRINK
Nothing to wine about really ONBOARD’s wine guru Claire Mottershaw talks about
global wine production which hit a 62 year low in 2023 O
nce again extreme climatic conditions such as early frost, heavy rainfall and drought have significantly impacted the output of the world vineyard, announced the International Organisation for vine and wine (OIV) recently. At the same time they predicted that 2023’s world wine production will be the worst since 1961.
At face value, this is a dire warning about the availability of our favourite tipples. It conjures visions of empty supermarket shelves and panic buyers stuffing their trolleys with as much Vinho Verde and Bordeaux Superieur as can lay their hands on.
If we drill into the details we quickly find that the picture is far less stark. The largest climactic effects were felt in the Southern hemisphere with Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa and Brazil all seeing wine production drop between 10 and 30%. These figures are undoubtedly bad news but, while these countries
and all of their stocks of older vintages and warehouses began to run dry. In other regions such as Champagne, the COVID epidemic forced producers to open new sales markets in the Far East which, now that the world has returned to a semblance of normality, leaves less available for European distribution.
The good news is that both Champagne and Burgundy had significantly better harvests in 2023 than the rest of the wine world
are important to the global wine market, they are far less popular within the yachting sector.
On the other hand New Zealand held its own, seeing an increase in production over its five year average, and California had a bumper crop with yields up 12%. The wines from these two countries account for far more of the wines found in onboard cellars than the rest of the Southern Hemisphere combined. In Europe, Spain and Italy were worst affected (down 14% and 12% respectively), however France remained level with 2022.
We have seen a definite decrease in the supply of top end wines over the last few years, particularly from regions such as Burgundy where a succession of ‘bad’ vintages meant that there were far fewer bottles of younger vintages released onto the market. As demand for these wines remained high, the result was that suppliers and distributors sold through any
The good news is that both Champagne and Burgundy had significantly better harvests in 2023 than the rest of the wine world. Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) announced that the Burgundy harvest has surpassed all expectations, providing both “stunning” quality and plentiful supply especially for white Burgundy – this should mean we see plenty of Chablis, Puligny’s and Chassagne’s back on the market in the next couple of years. Champagne’s 2023 harvest was a record in terms of volume of grapes. The region’s system of supply management means that only the official yield – 11,400kg per hectare in 2023 – will be allowed to be turned into champagne. However, the amount that producers can hold
back, “in reserve”, to boost future harvests that are not so generous has been raised by 2,000kg per hectare.
This should solidify the output volumes of Champagne for a good while to come. In summary, although recent headlines may make for interesting click-bait, it is not quite panic stations just yet.
When supply goes down and demand stays high, prices inevitably rise. We have already seen large price increases across top lines of Super Tuscans and Grand Cru Burgundies over the past couple of years but our stocks at VSF remain healthy and we are well placed to supply our clients with 100 point top lines from esteemed Burgundy producers and the yachting classics like Cristal & Dom Perignon.
Claire Mottershaw, Executive Director at VSF Group.
www.vsfgroup.com
ONBOARD | WINTER 2024 | 141
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204
