PARIS, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- France's wine production in 2026 is estimated at nearly 34 million hectoliters, down 6 percent from 2025 and 17 percent from the 2021-2025 average, according to the estimates released Monday by the French Ministry of Agriculture.
The decline is attributed to both a reduction in the area under vine production and lower yields affected by weather conditions, particularly drought and heatwaves during the summer, the Agriculture Ministry's statistics service Agreste said.
According to Agreste, the situation varies significantly across wine-growing regions. In Champagne in northeastern France, production is expected to fall by half from 2025 and the 2021-2025 average. In Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France, the harvest is forecast to increase by 5 percent from 2025, but remain 8 percent below the 2021-2025 average.
The pressure on vineyards is part of a broader impact of extreme weather on French agriculture and the economy. At a crisis meeting devoted to drought on Aug. 12, French Minister for Ecological Transition Monique Barbut said this summer's heatwaves could cost the French economy between 10 billion and 15 billion euros (11.6 billion to 17.5 billion U.S. dollars).
On September 2, France's Ministry of Economy and Finance said that heatwaves and drought in France were expected to shave 0.1 percentage point off France's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2026 due to lower agricultural production. ■