With incomes stagnating in the US [3], French unemployment at record highs [4], and prices surging on premium and non-premium alcohol [5], the following headline is only in fitting with our series of 'wealth effect' data points [6]:
- France's Champagne Production Set To Rise 56% This Year
Of course, this is a projection from the always reliable French statistics agency, that as France24 notes [7], may forgotten to note the devastation caused throughout Bordeaux and Burgundy in July by an unseasonal hail storm. Still, there's always hope.
Via AFP (France24) [7],
Champagne lovers were in for a treat as official statistics released Thursday predicted that France's production of bubbly would take a 56 percent leap this year.
The Agreste statistics, drawn up by the agriculture ministry, revealed that the country's overall wine production was expected to increase 11 percent this year compared to 2012, when the harvest was particularly bad.
Champagne came out as the winner, with the ministry predicting a 56 percent rise year-on-year and a 16 percent increase compared to the average yield over the past five years.
The predictions do not however take into account severe damage incurred earlier this month by vineyards in the famed southwestern region of Bordeaux when violent storms swept the area.
From Friday to Saturday, some 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of vineyards in the Bordeaux region suffered 80 to 100 percent losses -- an area almost as big as the island of Guernsey.
"The affected area is very big and entire properties are devastated and have lost almost everything," said Bernard Farges, head of the Bordeaux Wine Interprofessional Council, which promotes wine from the area.
...
Bordeaux is not the only wine-producing region to have been affected by violent storms.
Burgundy was also devastated by hail in July, although the latest Agreste figures have already taken into account damage incurred in that region.