Wine Shortage Fears

 

A recent sky-is-falling report from Morgan Stanley Research suggested a global wine shortage may soon be in the offing.  The report says worldwide demand outpaced supply by some 300 million cases in 2012, citing a rise in global wine consumption, particularly in the United States and China, along with a decline in wine production in the world’s three largest producers—France, Italy and Spain.

 

But other analysts say this doomsday forecast is a mere tempest in a wine goblet. They note that the 2013 harvest in Europe is projected to be substantially greater than in the last several years, and that the year’s harvest in California—the world’s fourth largest wine producer—will also be larger than average, rivaling 2012’s record crop. Chile and New Zealand also reported record wine production.

 

Further, analysts also note that much of the European decrease in production was deliberate, as vintners pulled back in the face of a glut of wine grapes. In fact, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, an intergovernmental winemaking and growing agency, the “significant global harvest” of 2013, which it attributes to “the development in the productivity of vineyards,” should result in a net increase in global wine production this year of almost nine percent.

 

So while having a basement full of wine may not be a bad thing, you don’t have to run right out and start stocking up.