Majestic warns of Provence rosé shortage

The combination of a bank holiday heatwave, poor French harvests and “higher-than-average” winter sales has put supplies of Provence rosé at risk of running out, according to UK retailer Majestic Wines.

The record temperatures at the beginning of May sparked a 114% increase in rosé sales over the bank holiday weekend at Majestic, which pointed to a “potential drought” of Provence rosé while at the same time encouraging consumers to consider other styles of rosé than the southern French favourite.

While it’s not uncommon to see a spike in rosé sales during spells of good weather, however the past winter also saw higher than normal sales of rosé wines, according to the retailer, “even during the ‘Beast from the East’ frozen spell”, while a record 110,000 bottles of rosé wines were sold in the run-up to Christmas and New Year.

“For many, rosé has meant one of two things – pale and summery, or dark and sickly,” explains Charles Cutterdige, rosé buyer at Majestic.

“But we’re seeing a huge change in the category now, as more styles come in. Malbec is a great example. It has popular appeal as a red wine but we’ve had increased interest in our pink styles too. It’s the same with other grapes, like Pinot Noir, as well as whole regions – like Lisbon”.

As reported by Vins de Provence, a period of frost at the end of April 2017 affected some of the vines across the region that were budding early, particularly those in the centre of the Var, however the region was left largely unscathed.

“From the end of May, the weather was much warmer and drier than usual which meant that the vines were able to continue their development,” it said, adding: “The flowering and fruit setting happened quickly, resulting in a bountiful setting and as such, the varying climate conditions, which included heat and rain, and occasionally frost and hail depending on the site, fortunately did not have a major impact on the quality of the grapes.”

While demand appears to be rising, production of Provence rosé wines also grew last year, bucking a trend seen across many other areas of Europe.

In 2017, production reached 1,165,389 hectolitres (the equivalent of 155 million bottles) for the Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, and Coteaux Varois appellations in Provence, the three appellations represented by the CIVP, compared with 1,317,900 hectolitres (the equivalent of 176 million bottles) in 2016.

However overall global production took a hit in 2017, falling to its lowest level in 60 years in 2017, according to confirmed figures released by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

In its annual state of the market and international trade conference in Paris, the OIV confirmed that wine production had dropped to 250 million hectolitres in 2017, the lowest level since 1957, when volumes stood at 173.8m hectolitres, according to Reuters.

Compared with 2016, this represented an 8.6% decline, which was attributed to unfavourable climate conditions across the EU and included terrible frosts and a heatwave that hit France, Spain and Italy during the spring and summer.

Across Europe, production fell by 14.6%. As all three are among the world’s largest producers, any losses suffered have an immediate impact on overall statistics for worldwide wine production.