Peso da Regua, Portugal, Aug. 7, 2026 (Lusa) - With Portugal's Douro region grape harvest just around the corner, winegrowers Manuel Veiga and José Ventura are still unsure what to do with their grapes, as the companies they work with have informed them that they will not be buying any grapes, or will be buying fewer.
Manuel Veiga, from Sedielos in Peso da Régua, told the Lusa news agency that he had received a letter from the company to which he had been selling grapes for 12 years, informing him that they did not want any grapes, «neither for fortified wine nor for table wine».
«And they didn't give me any reason at all; they said they don't want grapes even for fortified wine. I'll see how things turn out; at the moment I don't know what will happen,» said the grower, who took part this Friday morning in the gathering outside the headquarters of the Douro and Porto Wine Institute (IVDP) in Régua.
He has six hectares and harvests around 40 tonnes of grapes, of which around 10 barrels are for the ‘benefício', and he said that this year's crop «is good and looks lovely».
The ‘benefício' is the quantity of grape must that each producer can allocate to the production of Port wine and is also the main source of income for Douro winegrowers. The IVDP has set a quota of 76,000 barrels (550 litres each) for the 2026 harvest, 1,000 barrels more than last year.
With the harvest due to begin in a few days' time, Manuel Veiga said he was hopeful of still managing to sell his ‘benefício' quota, but feared he would have to leave the rest in the vineyard.
«It's not easy, and if it carries on like this, what can we do? Give up?», he asked, noting that he had already approached two wineries but had achieved nothing so far.
He was once an emigrant and invested in the vineyard, from which he derives his income, and «it has even been paying off», because the work is mechanised and is mostly done by himself.
«I invested badly; this has run its course and I'm convinced it will never recover,» he lamented.
José Ventura also took part in the protest organised by the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA) and the Association of Winegrowers and Family Farmers of the Douro (Avadouriense), and was wearing a rope around his neck.
He came from Folgosa do Douro, in Armamar, and mentioned that about a month ago he received a letter informing him that he would only be allowed to deliver authorised ‘benefício' grapes, i.e. around four barrels.
«From then on, they don't want even a single kilo more. They only want the ‘benefício', nothing else. How are we supposed to feel? It's as if we've got a noose round our necks and all that's left is the final tug. That's how I'm feeling; I'm being forced to give up,» he said.
As for the rest of the grapes, he said they «will just hang there», after having spent «a whole year tending to them».
«It's just a matter of picking half a dozen kilos and the rest stays there on thr vine; I've got no other option. We're not all going to be growers and bottlers, so the cure is worse than the disease. It's not easy, which is why I've got the noose around my neck,» he emphasised.
He explained that, last year, he also received a letter from the company, but, halfway through the harvest – as it was a year of low production – he was asked to deliver everything, because there weren't many grapes.
This year, an increase in the harvest of up to 25% is forecast in the Douro Demarcated Region, and there are already estates harvesting the earliest grapes at this stage.
As for production costs, José Ventura said: «They're always going up, rising every single year; only the price of wine hasn't gone up for 30 years.» For each barrel of Port wine, producers receive an average of €1,000.
«No company, no business can cope with the same prices for 30 years whilst everything else is going up. It's impossible,» he emphasised.
Following the rally outside the IVDP, a delegation of winegrowers and CNA leaders was received by the head of the institute, Gilberto Igrejas, to whom they presented a declaration reaffirming that the situation in the Douro is «unsustainable and unbearable».
In this document, they demand that contracts be made compulsory and that the State set minimum prices for grapes, prohibiting the purchase of grapes below production costs, and they call for the use of regional brandy in the production of Port wine to promote the sale and value of the entire grape production.
They also call for crisis distillation to be implemented during this harvest, aimed particularly at members of cooperative wineries and at producers who have not purchased wine from third parties.
PLI/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
