An inhospitable year for wines

This year's floods have had dire effects on people, property and the environment, but a couple of months later, they're having an unfortunate delayed effect on regional wine: Bad grape harvests caused by suboptimal weather will make for lower-quality wine at prices 10 percent higher.

Wine-grape yields are expected to be half of the 10-year annual average, according to Martin Půček, a spokesman for the Czech Association of Winemakers, with 3 tons per hectare (tons/ha) compared with the average of 5.8 tons/ha because of weather conditions. That will produce around 38 million liters of wine, compared with the average output of 50 million liters.

"This year, we've suffered all the possible disasters and ailments that can exist, beginning with vine mold and ending with pests like starlings, which haven't attacked the vineyard in five years," said Zbyněk Vaďura, head of Vinařství Vaďura, a vineyard in Polešovice in the Slovácko region that both grows grapes and produces wine. Vaďura expects to produce only 3,000 liters of wine this year, compared with 7,000 last year. "The worst came at the end of June with local floods: Almost 80 millimeters of rainfall prevented us from using techniques in the vineyards because the soil was simply soaked with water."

The quality of the wine is also forecast to be below average because of a lack of sunshine, Vaďura said, resulting in higher acidity and drier taste.

The shortage has caused the price of wine grapes to double to "unprecedented heights," according to Půček. In 2009, a kilogram of grapes cost 0.5 euros ($0.69/12.3 Kč). At the beginning of the harvest, the cost was 0.6 euros/kg, which has since risen to between 1 and 1.2 euros/kg, he said.

Comparatively, the 10 percent hike is rather low for consumers. The control factor is the massive amount of wine imported into the country. Czech wine only makes up about 40 percent of the domestic market, Půček said, and the rest of wine consumed comes from imports, 90 percent of which are EU.

"If any increase takes place, it will not be immediate, and it might be by some 3 to 5 Kč per glass," said Tomáš Breburda, manager of Bresto, a Prague restaurant and wine cellar. He said in the 12 years he has worked with wine, he has "never experienced a crisis so striking that a rise in price would occur."

"I don't think the 10 percent increase in prices will be reflected in our prices. I will definitely not use it for some huge price hike," Breburda said.

Because consumers won't be the ones swallowing the higher costs, wine producers will feel the pinch for the second year in a row. Last year, yields were 35 percent less than the 10-year average.

"This fact of course puts winemakers in a difficult situation," Půček said. "I do not deny that for most of the winemaking companies this year will be a 'liquidating' one. We're all sincerely looking forward to 2011 and hoping the poor harvest will not be repeated."

Cooperation within the industry will likely be the only relief, he said, as some processing companies will help compensate incomes for ailing winemakers with whom they have long-term contracts.

Aside from that, winemakers and grape growers will not receive any aid from the state to compensate for the bad year.

"There are several types or government and EU support programs, but they are based on strategic viticultural documents and conceptual framework, not changeable conditions or a particular year," said Tereza Magdalena Dvořáčková, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry.

In 2009, vineyards and winemakers received millions of crowns in state subsidies and EU grants for technology improvement, vine disease protection and the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies.

But the news isn't all bad. The past couple of down years are really only a blip in the strong growth in the Czech wine industry. Currently, wine consumption is about 18 liters per capita, and it's expected the wine industry will outperform beer and spirits by 2014 with an average annual sales growth of 3.74 percent, according to the Business Monitor International 2010 Czech Food and Drink Report, which linked the growth to younger Czech consumers drinking more wine.

The report said as EU wine production is expected to drop, Czech production will actually increase and push winemakers to export more.

"Although the downturn and ensuing cuts in non-essential expenditure will continue to affect wine sales over the short to medium term, it has a fairly strong long-term outlook," the report said.

Půček said he couldn't comment on what the future might bring, but could only hope for a better season next year.

"Given that the Czech Republic is a northern wine region, there are changing temperatures and wet periods, and yields are not as constant as in southern wine-producing states," he said. "On the other hand, due to the elements, we have a very interesting wine. It's aromatic and fresh, and that is why we are paid to grow the vines."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com