Vila Real, Portugal, June 30, 2025 (Lusa) - With just a few weeks to go before the grape harvest, winegrowers in the Douro region of northern Portugal are concerned about the sale and price of grapes, a possible cut in Port wine production, increased costs and a shortage of labour.
To draw attention to the difficulties that are worsening year after year in the Douro Demarcated Region, they are mobilising for a demonstration scheduled for Wednesday in Peso da Régua, in the district of Vila Real.
The leader of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), Berta Santos, has been travelling around the Douro distributing leaflets and calling for participation.
“The situation in the region is worrying and, if nothing is done for the small and medium producer, we are going to, in the short term, see part of the region left to decay,” she told the Lusa news agency.
She spent the morning at the market and on the streets of Armamar (Viseu) and said that it is increasingly difficult for farmers to continue working the land.
The appeal is for “full force” participation to draw the government’s attention.
One of the demands is to maintain the benefit for the 2025 harvest. The benefit, which is the amount of grape must that each producer can allocate to the production of Port wine, was 90,000 barrels (550 litres each) in 2024 and 104,000 in 2023.
“We do not accept cuts because the benefit is what makes the small and medium producer survive in this region. We want better prices for the grapes, because the production costs are enormous,” said Berta Santos.
The Douro region may face a third consecutive harvest with difficulties in selling its production. According to the leader, some companies and cooperatives have already warned that they will only buy grapes destined for the benefit.
“What are producers going to do with the remaining grapes?" she asked.
At 80 years of age, Celeste Marques is determined to keep the vineyard she inherited from her parents in Lamego, but says it is increasingly difficult.
“They're all going to end up being run down because there are no conditions, no staff and the products that are put into the vineyard are very expensive,” she said, noting that she expects to harvest fewer grapes on the two hectares than last year as a result of the diseases that affected the vines. Last year she harvested 12 barrels of wine, five for the benefit .Her production is delivered to a winery and, although she complains about the low prices, she stresses that the cooperative "pays correctly". For this year, she said she has already been warned that they will only keep the grapes for the benefit, because the winery claims to have full stocks.
Manuel Figueiredo, 61 and a winegrower in Armamar, describes the situation of the producers as ‘very complicated’.
“And if they cut the benefit even more, I don't know what will happen to the producers. The grapes are no longer enough to pay the expenses, which are increasing,” he pointed out, warning that the Douro “won't live on tourism alone, becaue if there are no vineyards, the tourists won't come either”.
On Wednesday he will be at the demonstration to draw attention to "the wrong" that is in the Douro’.
Manuel Figueiredo has three hectares of vineyards, where he harvested four barrels of benefit in 2024, but has already had 12. He had 10 barrels for consumption and managed to sell them to a "company that accepted the grapes", buying a barrel of Port wine for €1,000 and a barrel for consumption for €500.
"God willing it will continue this year," he emphasised.
He has already had five vine treatments because of the unstable weather in the spring, pointing to the ever-increasing costs of the products.
Joaquim Carvalheira, 70, praised the company he works with, which takes all his grapes and pays him well, and said that the work in the vineyard is done with the help of his son, because if he had to hire someone, he wouldn't be able to make ends meet. This year he expects to harvest fewer grapes and has already had five treatments to the vines.
António Lareiro, 71, has a small vineyard and said that "he hasn't been paid for three years" for the produce he delivered to a winery in the region.
"If I was living off it, I'd have given it up. The vineyard is small, the loss isn't huge, but it is a loss," he said.
Acácio Correia, 67, uprooted his vineyard in the district of Armamar and planted apple and cherry trees.
"If it doesn't work, you have to uproot it, working for other people isn't worth it," he said, noting that he only left a few rows of vines for his own consumption and that the income he made from the vineyard wasn't enough to pay his expenses He said that he opted for apples and cherries because he can sell the entire harvest.
The demonstration is also calling for a ban on the purchase of grapes below production costs, prioritising regional brandy in the production of Port wine, more controls on the entry of grape must and wine from outside the region and the purchase by the state of surplus stocks from cooperative wineries.
PLI/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
