Reduction of Greek wine production by 25.09%

Greek wine production is drastically reduced by 25.09% to 1,710,453 hl in the current period 2021/2022, according to a recent announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Commission.

It is obvious that the occurrence of weather phenomena with hail, frosts and successive heat waves had a negative effect on the volume of wine production, a fact that is expected to be verified after the announcement of the ministry with the final data next April. The data of the final wine production will be based on the Production Declarations of the wineries and not on the estimates of Directorate of Agricultural Economy and Fisheries, on ​​the basis of which the first estimate of wine production is calculated.

By category of wines according to the processing of the data carried out by the Central Union of Wine Products Cooperatives, the production shows fluctuations in the previous year as well.

Respectively, the volume of wine production of 2021 appears reduced compared to the average of the last 5 years, by 28.88%.

The reduction of the wine production volume in 2021 by 25.09%, has a negative effect on the income of the viticulturists, despite the small increase of 5% -8% observed in the prices of grapes in the large wine-growing zones of the country, which will intensify the already observed abandonment of small mainly viticultural holdings.

Already at yesterday’s Board of Directors of the Central Union of Wine Products Cooperatives the long-term inadequacy of the state mechanism was discussed, which due to the lack of controls “allows” the mass entry into the grape sector that is not allowed to be vinified, and discussed the lack of strategy in the production process. These two practices help to finally fix the prices of wine grapes, resulting in the creation of strong tendencies to abandon the crop.