Douro. Winemakers ask the government to increase compensation

The Lutar pelo Douro Association proposed this Tuesday to the Government that winegrowers receive not 0.50 euros/kg of grapes as compensation proposed by the government, but 0.80 euros/kg of grapes compared to production costs, which it estimates to be around 1.10 euros/kg of grapes.

In a statement sent to Lusa after meeting this Tuesday with the deputy minister of Agriculture, José Maria Vilhena, the association reported having suggested “counterproposals to the measures that the Government presented in its Action Plan for the sustainable management and valorization of the wine sector in the Douro Demarcated Region”.

Regarding the proposal to increase compensation to €0.80, the association argues that, “although it will not be enough to cover all production costs, it will be a valuable aid to the survival of small and medium-sized winegrowers.”

It was also recommended, as a way of “adjusting the price for the next campaigns”, the “inclusion of grapes in the Agri-Food Price Observatory”, with the minister suggesting that “the grape price observatory be implemented by the Institute of Vine and Wine”.

The association also proposed “the certification of wine equity by the Douro and Port Wine Institute [IVDP], with the aim of guaranteeing a fair price in the production chain, since the certification of productive sustainability is carried out by private associations, where there is a conflict of interests, distorting the purpose of a serious certification”.

In the press release, the association also indicates that within the scope of the voluntary reduction (up to 20% of the vineyard area suitable for the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Porto) they proposed “changing the irrigation regulations, so that it is not free, the implementation of regional brandy, whether as wine or viticultural brandy, asking for a definition adjusted to reality in the Vitis Program [for restructuring and conversion of vineyards]”.

For those responsible for the association, "it is a contradiction to increase the Vitis Program premium as well as authorize new plantings and, on the other hand, propose the voluntary uprooting of vineyards because it is not the winegrowers' will to uproot their ancestors' vineyards."

“Regarding the brake on the expansion of production potential proposed by the Government, in which in the transfer and planting processes only those planting authorizations previously suitable for that PDO in vineyards classified preferably with Letter A will be able to benefit from the Porto PDO, they questioned “what is the purpose and objective of excluding the other vineyards, since the way proposed by the Government only benefits the large producers, since they already have their properties in privileged locations”, continues the statement.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Government “proposes training for management staff and other agents, and mobilization of environmental fund resources and a Recovery and Resilience Plan specifically for the sustainability and competitiveness of cooperatives”, the association's leaders requested “that these measures cover all operators in the sector”.

Lastly, regarding Casa do Douro, the “State’s intervention was requested to register the transfer of ownership of the headquarters building to the new Casa do Douro, Public Association, as well as to complete the process of payment in kind of the debt of the extinct Casa do Douro”.