France's wine output this year will be one of the worst in history, if not the worst, after severe spring frosts devastated vines, says the French Ministry of Agriculture, which released its preliminary harvest predictions on August 6.

France's production is likely to drop between 24 and 30 percent this year, taking it to a "historically low" level, the ministry said, blaming the unseasonal frosts in April. 

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The frosts happened very late in the spring after the buds on the vines had already begun to burst. The delicate buds then sprout shoots and leaves but are susceptible to sudden cold snaps – as happened this year. 

Besides the April frosts, there has been particularly rainy summer weather which has spurred on fungal disease, affecting vineyards. 

Wine output is already certain to fall below that of 1991 and 2017, the two most recent years of disastrous harvests. 

"For now, it looks like the yield will be comparable to that of 1977, a year when the vine harvest was reduced by both destructive frost and summer downpours," the ministry said. 

Several nights of frost in early April caused some of the worst damage in decades to crops and vines across the country, affecting wine-producing regions from Bordeaux to Champagne. 

Fruit farmers face poor harvest 

Apricot producers, along with apples and kiwi farmers, have also been badly hit.

Apricot production is headed for its worst year in almost 50 years, the ministry said, falling by half from its average seen over the previous five years.

Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie has called the frost attack "probably the greatest agricultural catastrophe of the beginning of the 21st century."

The dramatic terminology underscores just how important the viticulture industry is to France, the world's second-biggest wine producer after Italy. 

World Weather Attribution, an international organisation that analyzes the link between extreme weather events and global warming, said in a study in June that a warmer climate had increased the probability of an extreme frost coinciding with a growing period by 60 percent.