With this year’s instalment of ProWein cancelled due to the global outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19), this month’s report will do its best to fill the breach and shed light on all the industry latest. While individuals and companies do their best to proceed with ‘business as usual’, it is undeniable that the virus outbreak has led to – or at least contributed to – a slowdown on many bulk wine markets around the world.
Wine trade with China – which was already slowing due to the country’s decelerating economic growth as well as an internal importer reorganisation – has understandably been most affected. The virus is believed to have emerged in Wuhan, Hebei province, in December and Chinese authorities have since been battling it with strict measures such as restricting the number of times per week people in specific provinces (totalling over 930 million people) can leave their homes. Australia, Chile and France, which in particular do a lot of wine business with China, have registered a significant slump in Chinese demand: it is unknown how long this will last for.
The other main impact on the wine business of the Coronavirus is in Italy, which now has the second-highest number of confirmed infections outside China, with the northern part of the country particularly affected. Wine sales to Italy’s hotel, restaurant and café industry are paused, though sales to the supermarket sector, and exports to northern Europe, have reportedly been relatively stable. Restrictions on movement are now in place across the whole of Italy.
The bulk wine business at this time of year is often a little slower anyway as the industry assesses the Southern Hemisphere crops and the start of the growing seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. Both hemispheres have in a common a lack of rainfall, with drought looking like it will take its toll on Argentina, Chile and Australia’s respective yields, though by how much remains unclear. (The harvest in the Western Cape, however, is proceeding smoothly and expected to yield closer to the ten-year average.) Meanwhile, unseasonably dry, warm Februarys in California, France and Spain have raised premature budbreak concerns there: vegetative growth is approximately three weeks ahead of normal in the Languedoc and two weeks ahead in some areas of California.
It was not unseasonably dry or warm in the UK, which experienced its wettest February on record: in this month’s report, buyers can read an indepth study into consumer trends on the UK wine market – what wines are going to be hot in the months and years to come? In addition, check out page 18 for the lowdown on how you can extend the shelf-life of your wine – while also reducing your usage of SO2 – with a liquid, organic-certified, all-natural wine stabilizer.