Worst Grape Harvest to Hit Europe in Half a Century, Affects Wine Producers

Wine makers say that this year will be the worst wine harvest in half a century.

Drought, frost and hail have all been reasons why Europe's wine grap harvest will be the smallest in many years, the Associated Press reports.

"Two big producing nations, France and Italy, have not known a harvest so weak in 40 to 50 years," says Thierry Coste, an expert with the European Union farmers' union to the AP.

In the champagne and Burgandy regions of France, which are big wine producers, they have been hit by hard weather conditions that "affected the prevalent Chardonnay grape, used to make the world's most famous sparkling wine and the luxurious whites from those regions." Reported the AP.

The AP reports that in certain regions, smaller vitners could also be facing survival issues and that in certain regions it could be a big difficulty for producers because of the harvest.

Europe's wine industry accounts for nearly 62 percent of worldwide wine production, making this years wine harvest one that will affect the industry as a whole and make a worldwide impact.

Coste said to the AP that draught in the Mediterranean rim this year is also an issue. "First and foremost, climate change or not, we see that we have ever more dry spells. It was almost zero (degrees Celsius) in the south."

"Natural phenomena happened all at the same time to make sure the harvest is so small," he added to the AP.

Champagned harvests could decline by 40 percent this year and Bourgogne Beaujolais might decline by 30 percent, the AP reported.