Italy is set to reclaim its spot as the world’s biggest wine producer after output in the home of Chianti and Prosecco rebounded from last year, when rain spoiled part of the grape crop.
Italy’s winemakers will raise volume by 10 percent to 48.9 million hectoliters this year, equivalent to about 6.5 billion bottles, to overtake France, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine estimates. French wine output will increase 1.2 percent to 47.4 million hectoliters, according to data from the group, known by its acronym OIV.
Italian wine production, which dates back to pre-Roman times, was worth 4.55 billion euros ($5 billion) to producers last year, or 9.4 percent of the country’s total agricultural output, Eurostat data show. The volume of the 2014 vintage slumped 18 percent as wet weather caused fungal disease such as mildew and botrytis in Italy’s vineyards.
“Last year wasn’t a disaster, but we were overtaken,” Carla di Paola, Italy’s representative with the OIV, said in an interview in Paris. “Wine is part of our tradition, being number one is important.”
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