Crisis in the sale of grapes in the Douro encourages producers to make their own wine

After the harvest, washing the baskets did not relieve the Douro winegrowers. The grapes that remained in the vineyards are now a burden for producers who have no one to sell to.

A problem that Antonio Correia anticipated this year. He decided it was time to produce his own wine and the most special production will come from his grandfather’s mill. The producer believes in the raw material and tries to do everything the old fashioned way in this special batch to enhance its value. In total, it will produce around 33 thousand liters of wine.

“The time was right, we also have an advisor who makes things easier, if we don’t sell the wine we can also distill it, we have several brands of spirits, gins, vodkas, so we have something outside the country, something very well set up, and this is a matter of taking advantage of everything we have”, says Antonio Correia, winegrower.

The fact that Antônio is a businessman and has a hotel is a starting point for sales that makes all the difference and is not available to other producers. For the associations that represent them, the important thing at this time of crisis is not to let Douro wines be devalued.

“We who have to invest more in promoting our wines, table wines and Douro wines, in particular, because Douro wine has been losing market share for many years, this can only be counteracted by promotion, marketing, with investment in the sale of gold product”, explains Rui Soares from Prodouro – Douro winegrowers association

The Minister of Agriculture has already made it known that he is sensitive to this issue and as soon as the State Budget comes into force, funds from the Vine and Wine Institute and the Douro and Porto Wine Institute will be deactivated for the promotion that is so sought after in the sector.