(Wine-Searcher) - A German agri-chemical company will pay out to growers affected by a faulty fungicide.

German chemical behemoth Bayer is offering to compensate grapegrowers whose crops have been damaged after spraying with one of the company's fungicides.

The agri-chemical company has acknowledged that one of its products – Moon Privilege, also known as Luna Privilege – has resulted in "atypical symptoms" in vines treated with the product during the 2015 vintage. Vineyards have been affected in France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with Swiss losses alone estimated at $83.7 million.

Jean-Marc Amez Droz, Swiss Wine's general secretary, estimated harvest losses totaling 6.65 million kilos (7000 tons) of grapes in 2015, or about 4.85 percent of 2014's crop, according to Reuters.

Hardest hit were Pinot Noir grapes, often grown in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and Chasselas, a white wine grape prevalent in French-speaking Vaud canton. A few growers lost their entire 2015 harvest, Amez Droz said.

"Wine makers are missing about 6 million bottles of wine," he said. "The very young berries just didn't grow. The development of the berries was totally out of the ordinary."

Growers who sprayed late in 2014 in rainy conditions saw more damage than those who applied it earlier in dry weather, Amez Droz said, a trend confirmed by Bayer.

Switzerland's Federal Office of Agriculture suspended its approval of Moon Privilege for winegrowing in July.

On Wednesday, a spokesman said private growers would need to resolve their own damage claims, but the agriculture ministry would continue to work with Bayer to determine the cause. The ministry was also aiming to boost approvals stringency.

"Approval will take at least a year longer, as now we'll have to investigate damage that might occur a year following application," spokesman Juerg Jordi said. Bayer must start from the beginning if it is to sell Moon Privilege again in Switzerland for grapegrowers, he added.