BIG THREE REVEL IN A BUMPER HARVEST

FTER the difficult, small, 2017 vintage across much of Europe, that saw damaging frost, hail, heatwave and drought in various locations, 2018, in general, was something of a relief. Yes, there were regional significant weather-related challenges, but overall, production volumes have mainly recovered. Given that the top three wine-producing countries - Italy, France, Spain - all harvested crops in line with or better than their respective five-year averages, this has helped to make 2018 one of the highest global productions this millennium - at around 282 million hectolitres (mhl), according to early estimates from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), an intergovernmental agency working scientifically and technically on vines, wines, wine-based drinks, table grapes and raisins. There