Lawmakers Alfredo Maia, Paula Santos, and Paulo Raimundo have submitted a resolution to Parliament following a grape growers’ protest held on Wednesday in Peso da Régua, which the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) says highlighted the urgent need for solutions in a sector facing unbearable challenges.
The party reports issues with stock movement, grape and wine sales at prices far below production costs—unchanged for 25 years—benefit cuts, and decreasing prices for treated wines and table wines, along with grapes left unharvested. In April, exporters announced plans to stop buying grapes from hundreds of growers, further complicating the situation.
The benefit, or the amount of must producers can allocate to Port wine production, stood at 90,000 casks (550 liters each) in 2024 and 104,000 in 2023. This year, within the interprofessional council of the Douro and Port Wines Institute (IVDP), a reduction to 68,000 casks was proposed.
The PCP pledged to continue proposing measures to resolve these issues and criticized successive governments for favoring big commercial and distribution sectors over small and medium producers.
In response, the communist parliamentarians urged the government to implement measures to protect the vineyard sector and national grape production, including ensuring the IVDP supports maintaining the 2025 benefit level at or above 2024’s.
The PCP also advocated setting minimum indicative prices to ensure grape purchases cover production costs and controlling bulk wine imports to ease domestic production challenges.
The party further recommends prioritizing the use of Douro wine distillation spirits in Port wine production and ensuring the IVDP has the necessary resources to monitor the influx of musts and wines from outside the designated region.
The communist deputies supported creating extraordinary support mechanisms for grape producers, including emergency distillation.
Additionally, the PCP called for the necessary measures, including financial support, to sustain the operation of the newly restored Casa do Douro as a mandatory public association, using any excess fees collected by the IVDP and sent to the Ministry of Finance since 2020.
Finally, they advocated against vineyard planting liberalization and for reinstating labeling information to ensure the specificity, authenticity, and quality of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Controlled Denomination of Origin (DOC) wines by region.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Sea assured on Wednesday that structural solutions are being developed to “ensure the economic, social, and environmental sustainability” of the Douro Demarcated Region, particularly aimed at small producers.
