The current state and prospects for the development of viticulture and winemaking in Greece

Abstract

Viticulture in Greece is the oldest, but in recent years there has been a reduction of areas intended for the production of wine products. The article contains data on viticulture in Greece. Over time, the land of Greek vineyards is fluctuating. There is a trend towards a decrease in areas in connection with the quota of products from the EU. The comparative estimation of the areas allocated for grapes in Greece and leading EU states (Spain and France) is given. Despite this development, the wine sector is not facing serious problems compared with other crops because the soil – climatic conditions favor viticulture in Greece and grape production gives high quality products. Greece is one of the countries with a slight increase of 2% in wine production, while the total wine production reached 2.6 million hectoliters, from 2.5 in 2016, that is 2% of total production in the European Union and 1% worldwide. Greece with wine production occupies the 12th place in the world and 4th in the European Union. As far as wine consumption is concerned, Greece remained at the same level as 2.3 million hectoliters for 2017, after falling in recent years. In recent years, the wine-growing trend has presented a serious and urgent problem due to the high competitive environment of importing wine products from Latin America.