Late frosts, drought periods, and heavy rainfall caused the domestic wine harvest in 2024 to decrease by 20 percent to 1.87 million hectoliters compared to 2023, as reported by Statistics Austria on Friday. This is the lowest level in the last 14 years. Originally, the Chamber of Agriculture had expected about 2 million hectoliters in the fall of 2024.

Wine Harvest in Austria: White Wine Particularly Affected

The decline was particularly pronounced with a decrease of 22 percent to 1.29 million hectoliters for white wine. For red wine, production fell by 13 percent compared to 2023, to 578,600 hectoliters. Overall, the production volume of white and red wine was also 22 percent below the five-year average. Nevertheless, the wine stock as of the end of July 2024 settled at 3.04 million hectoliters, matching the previous year's peak level, the statisticians wrote in a release.

Strongest Decline in Domestic Wine Harvest in Lower Austria

The production declines affected all major wine-growing regions in Austria. The strongest setback was in Lower Austria, where production was 23 percent lower than in 2023, at 1.18 million hectoliters. Styria recorded a decrease of 16 percent to 159,200 hectoliters, and in Burgenland, the harvest fell by 14 percent to 504,000 hectoliters. The decline was comparatively moderate at 5 percent in Vienna, which, with 21,900 hectoliters in 2024, produced a relatively small amount of wine.

(APA/Red)

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