With a total harvest of 58.5 million hectolitres of wine in the vats 2004 is a fabuous year for French wine says Denis Verdier, president of the Vignerons coopérateurs de France. In the tradational after harvest press conference Denis Verdier praised the Languedoc in particular for the high quality of the harvest this year. Production year on year is up 23% after the devastation caused by the drought in 2003. Ovreall European production has increased to 177 million hectolitres for the old 15 countries with the new members adding a further 7 million additional. The Languedoc Roussillon, as usual leads the list of top production regions with 3.2 million hectolitres of AOC and 15.2 million of vin de pays, way ahead of the next top producing regions, Charente at 9.8 and Aquitaine at 9.1. Accross the Languedoc the picture is mixed, the Aude and Herault saw overall wine production increased between 15-18%, the Gard lagged behind at 8%, however some individual terriors saw poduction hold fast or actually decrease. for the Purenees-oriental, the Corbieres in the Aude, the Coteaux du languedoc in the Herault and the Costieres de Nimes all saw drops in production, primarily due to the changing nature of the wine industry with state support delinking from quantity and moving toward quality, according to Olivier Merrien director of oenology at the Institut du Vin (ICV).
Denis Verdier concluded,"2004 saw a return to the traditional dates of the harvest, with a suprb quality of grape, strong and heathy, with a strong alcohol level and acidity".
With the first primeurs hitting the shelf this week it looks like 2004 will be a great year for Languedoc wines, the question as always is finding someone to buy the stuff.
Languedoc -the largest producer of wine in Europe in 2004 20th October Peter Shield