Okay, okay we’re not saying that your local bottle store won’t have any wine next time you check in, we’re not saying that we need to start thinking of alternatives – we’re just saying that we haven’t really had to worry about this before, and it’s a little alarming. That’s all.

Morgan Stanley has just released a report which seems to suggest that demand for wine is increasing, and that production is in sharp decline. The production industry has been especially slow in China. Basically, bad weather coupled with a decrease in wine farm size caused global production to drop by 5% last year – leaving a gap of 300 million cases (more than 3,5 billion bottles) that simply weren’t produced.

It’s not scary because we know we’ll always have wine down here in the South – but it is scary because this is the steepest decline in wine production since the 1960s. Europe produces over half the world’s wine, and that industry decreased production by 10%. It seems the Europeans are no longer the thirstiest wine-drinkers on earth, having recently been overtaken by the Yanks and the Chinese. The report mentioned that:

Data suggests there may be insufficient supply to meet demand in coming years, as current vintages are released.

There is a plus side to this. Smaller, export markets such as our own should benefit from the worldwide shortage, which is good. But that does mean that we might run out wine too, which is bad.

Brought to you by Pierre Jourdan

[Source : The Independent]