Spanish wine is going through an existential crisis and for producers the problem is simple: too cheap

The end of drought has shaken the pendulum of agricultural production, taking ahead the hopes that many had in this harvest. The productivity recovery It has arrived accompanied by a decrease in the prices of a variety of products in the sector. Among them, the grapes used for the elaboration of various types of wine.

Protest in front of AECAVA. A few days ago, grape -producing farmers from different communities They organized a protest In front of the headquarters of the Association of Cava (AECAVA) Association in Sant Sadurní D’Alcoia, Barcelona. They did it in order to demand sufficient prices to cover, at least, production costs.

20% more grapes. The protest occurred while the harvest of some of the grape varieties began. The sector estimates that this year will be an increase in grape production, with some farmers calculating a 20% increase With respect to the 2024 harvest.

This would be the effect of the recovery of the sector after a drought that affected very diverse crops and left several crops on the edge of the collapse. The situation is now very different thanks to the rains we saw between the past autumn and this spring and even in part of the summer.

Double edge weapon. Despite this, this improvement threats becoming a double -edged sword at the fall in prices that the agricultural sector now denounces. The increase in production and static demand involves lower prices, so much that the sector fears not being able to cover production costs.

Almost at half price. As explained from the Valencian Association of Farmersthe first offers that wineters have received this year for the conventional grape kilogram is € 0.45, € 0.50 in the case of the grape for the production of “ecological” wine. These figures would represent a price drop of about 50% compared to last year’s prices, € 0.87/kg in conventional grapes and € 1/kg in “ecological” production.

Harvest recovery (something we are Seeing in various crops) It would be the reason for this collapse in prices, but producers warn that this recovery does not affect all crops. The field in areas such as the Valencian Community or Extremadura, stand out, maintain a limited yield at 10.5 tons per hectare.

A recovery that is not so much. From the winemaker, emphasis is placed on the so long -awaited harvest recovery after drought is not, much less, assured. Some diseases that affect the vine, such as mildewthey are putting a harvest still in the process of maturation in some regions.

To this we must add the effects, even to be determined, of a especially intense and lasting heat wave. A heat wave capable to put at risk the process of maturation of plants but has also come accompanied by a series of fires Especially devastating in areas such as Galicia, Extremadura, and Castilla y León.

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Image | Ángela Llop, CC by-SA 4.0