The association representing production in the Douro Demarcated Region was heard today in the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, where it warned of difficulties expected for the 2024 harvest and for the process of restoring Casa do Douro as a public association with mandatory registration.

In the Douro, the last harvest was marked by some social unrest because, invoking difficulties in selling wine and excess 'stocks', companies did not buy or bought grapes in smaller quantities from producers who, in turn, complained about delivering the grapes at "very reduced prices", a problem that is feared to intensify.

Rui Paredes said that there are already winegrowers who are receiving letters from operators, warning them that they do not want to buy grapes at the harvest.

In one of the letters, dated April and to which Lusa had access, the company informs the producer that it will not be able to purchase its grapes due to the excess of wines in storage.

"They [winegrowers] are in an investment process because they have to do all the treatments and reach a point where they do not know where to put the grapes. This is the reality at the moment", he said.

The Douro and Port Wine Institute (IVDP) announced on Friday that it had decided to prohibit the bulk entry into the Douro of grapes, musts, wines and other wine products or similar that are not covered by the Statute of Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) of the Douro Demarcated Region".

The measure came into effect on Saturday.

"This was one of the things we had on the table and that we had been talking about for over a year. We were always told, in some way, that this was not possible because it clashed with the movement of people and goods in the European Union. But, in good time it was possible and we will understand why it was only now and could not be last year or two years ago", he said.

This was, in his opinion, a "fundamental" measure because the movement of wine imports from outside the region was pushing prices down".

Another measure defended by the production is the distillation of excess wine into wine spirit for the production of Port wine or muscatel.

The region consumes spirit corresponding to about 240 thousand pipes of wine.

"One way to reduce the issue of excesses was to reduce these excesses by about 50 thousand pipes. This is the value that the trade says is in excess in the region and we would transform this into spirit that would be added to Port wines and Douro muscats", he justified.

Green harvesting is another measure defended by the production because it is "a way of directly remunerating the winegrower" and that removes grapes and, consequently, wine from the market.

"None of this solves the problem separately, but everything together can effectively solve the problem we have in the Douro", said Rui Paredes.

The restoration of Casa do Douro as a public association with mandatory registration was approved in January, in parliament, with the votes in favour of the PS, PCP, BE and the then social-democrat deputy Soveral de Andrade.

Since 28 April, the deadline for preparing the electoral act for the body has been counting, after the publication of the new law in the Official Gazette.

In 2015, the Douro Renewal Federation won the competition for the private management of the organisation and still holds the institution's headquarters and the right to use the name "Casa do Douro".

Rui Paredes said that the federation's financial situation is worsening, "which does not have any type of financing".

"The Casa do Douro process either moves forward or we have to find a solution because it is not possible to continue with this situation of financial rupture that we have", he said.

Read Also: Douro bans bulk entry of grapes and wines not covered by PDO and PGI (Portuguese version)