The president of the Algarve Wine Commission has estimated that wine production this year is expected to register a 20% drop compared to 2021, due to drought and heat, which prevented the normal development of the grape.
Speaking to journalists, Sara Silva said that, until June, the expectations of her 50 producers were for “growth” after “a record year” in 2021, but high temperatures and lack of rain hampered the growth of the grapes and the prospects for this year's harvest are between 1,000,000 and 1,200,000 litres.
“What we have found, effectively, is that there will be a drop in production of around 20%”, she said, explaining that “the fact that there is no precipitation” forces producers to “start irrigation more and more in advance” and the “high temperatures, especially in July, caused some vines to scorch”.
She clarified that, although “there were not many”, of the vineyards affected by scorching, many ended up suffering “water stress” and “the grapes did not develop in the best way, compromising the expected profitability. ”
“Effectively, when harvesting, the producers found that what was in the vineyard was not what was expected”. She reassured that the predominance of “small producers, with one or two hectares”, and the “manual selection in the vineyards and in the cellars, still guarantees the quality” of the final product, “despite it not being a brilliant year”.
Ms Silva pointed out that, in 2021, the Algarve Wine Commission had “one of the record years of production, with more than 1,500,000 litres”. The data available so far - which will only be confirmed in November - points to the harvest of “undoubtedly 1,000,000 litres, but this falls short of last years harvest” and “will not exceed 1,200,000 litres”.
The president of the Algarve Wine Commission explained that, although irrigation was anticipated by “many of the producers” and started in May, “with increased costs”, “some of them considered that they should have started earlier, taking into account the final result” of the harvest, which was brought forward to the last weeks of July.
“It is necessary to monitor the maturation”, she explained, stressing that “the harvest must proceed as soon as possible”, as soon as the conditions are ideal, because the heat quickly changes the acidity levels and can harm the final quality.
At the point of harvest this year, the producers were also faced with a lack of specialised labour and the “difficulty in finding people available to work in the vineyard”, predominantly in Lagoa, Silves, Lagos and Tavira, highlighted the president of the Commission.
Algarve wines “sell mainly within the region”, taking advantage of the tourism and the opportunities it brings to the sector, she noted that “we have on average just over a million bottles sold and, in total, about 70% to 80% are sold here in the region. Around 10 to 15% is for export, and the remainder is sold at national level".
The Algarve wine sector is now looking to “develop even more an expanding product, which is wine tourism, associated with catering and accommodation”, and to take advantage of the “dynamics of tourism” and the “hotel and restaurant channels” to sell the 2022 harvest, from which “excellent wines will surely come out, just not with the desired quantities”, she concluded.
Source https://www.lusa.pt/
