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Portugal's winegrowing is being hit by several severe crises simultaneously: wildfires have devastated vineyards and wineries in the regions of Vinho Verde, Dão, and Bairrada. In the Douro region, many of the small winemakers may not even harvest the grapes this year and may completely abandon their businesses. Many have no successors for their now unprofitable wineries. Grape prices are unsustainably low, labor is hardly available, and necessary investments in vineyards, such as replanting, are unaffordable for many.
The sales of Port wine have decreased by 13 percent between 2021 and 2023. The amount of must (“Beneficio”) that can legally be used for the production of Port wine has also dropped by 22 percent since 2022. The winemakers are demanding in a manifesto that the Aguardente, the spirit used to fortify Port wine, must exclusively come from the Douro starting in 2025. Currently, it is mainly sourced from Spain or France. Furthermore, they propose the creation of two Beneficios – one for Port wine and one for Douro DOC table wine. Currently, grapes for the Beneficio for Port wine are worth two to three times as much as for table wine. This system subsidizes the production of unprofitably cheap table wine, which is sold cheaply in supermarkets. At the same time, it undermines the reputation of the Douro as a quality wine region. There are already rumors that some producers are illegally using cheap grapes from Spain to save costs.
The upcoming 2024 harvest in the Douro is expected to be of very high quality. The vintage could be declared as Vintage Port.
(al / Source: drinksbusiness)