French grape harvest heading for historic low

Paris

KNOCKED off course by a cold spring snap, French wine production from Bordeaux to Alsace has dropped dramatically this year and could hit "a historic low", according to the agriculture ministry.

"At 37.6 million hectolitres, the 2017 harvest is set to come in 17 per cent lower than in 2016, and 16 per cent below the average of the past five years," the ministry's statistics bureau Agreste said on Saturday.