Congratulations, Italy! According to a report from the European Commission, Italy produced an impressive 4.96 billion liters of wine over the course of last year. With production in France dropping 1 percent since the year before to 4.62 billion, that puts Italy ahead by a wide margin as the world’s leading wine producer for the year 2010.
Changes in climate are suspected to have something to do with the shift – while Italy’s expansive coasts keep weather relatively cool, France has recently been more susceptible than usual to rising temperatures that threaten vineyards with substandard grape crops.
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Italy’s production increase is all the more impressive considering its size. "The increase in Italian production must also be compared to the fact that the territorial size of the French vineyards is far larger than our ones,” Italian agricultural worker Domenico Bosco told the UK’s Telegraph. “Exports are also on the increase – up 15 per cent compared to last year, which is a very good sign." Bosco also noted that Italy outproduced France in the sparkling wine sector as well, with 420 million liters of prosecco produced against 400 million liters of French champagne.
This wouldn’t be the first time Italy has taken the top slot for wine production – for years it has been a tight race, and while France usually manages to come out ahead, Italy overtook France in 2008 by a margin of 290 million liters. Meanwhile Spain, the U.S., and Germany round out the list of the world’s top five producers.
