European harvests: growing estimates for 2019 in France and Spain, dropping in Italy

Except for the whims of the weather, the production of wine 2020, at least in the three great countries of Europe, will not be stingy, but not too abundant. At least, to look at the official estimates still valid, while the first bunches were harvested both in Italy and in France, as in Alsace, or in Spain, in denominations such as Rueda, near Valladolid, or Jumilla, in the Murcia region. In Italy, in-depth estimates will be released on September 3 by Assoenologi, Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) and Ismea, but already at the beginning of August Coldiretti assumed a production of around 45 million hectoliters (down by -5% on 2019). A drop that, at least as a trend, more than in its actual extent, seems to be confirmed by the voices of the many oenologists and wineries throughout Italy heard in recent days by WineNews. In France, on the other hand, the estimates of Agreste, the statistics service of the French Ministry of Agriculture, are firm on an estimated production between 44.7 and 45.6 million hectoliters, with a hypothetical increase of +6-8% on the 2019 harvest. In Spain, on the other hand, the estimates are made by the Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias of Castilla-La Mancha, which, at the national level, predict a harvest 2020 decidedly abundant, around 43 million hectoliters, an increase of +14% on 2019.