CVR Lisboa reveals that 2020 harvest helps to increase production

The Lisbon Region Wine Commission (CVR Lisboa) expects an increase in production of around 5% to 10% this year. In a statement to ‘Jornal Económico’, the president of CVR Lisboa revealed in October that the harvest in the Lisbon Demarcated Region was progressing “at a good pace, with the latest red grape varieties currently being harvested”. “For the end, there are the grapes for late harvest wines, which constitute a special niche that is beginning to gain interest and traction in the Lisbon Region”, explained Francisco Toscano Rico.
According to the official of CVR Lisboa, this “is an atypical vintage and very demanding in terms of logistics and, consequently, also financial, due to the Covid prevention measures adopted by the wine sector, which require harvesting with outdated teams on the ground in time and space and in the equipment they use, as well as in resting places and transportation vehicles”.
Francisco Toscano Rico predicts that, in terms of quantity, there will be an increase between 5% and 10% compared to 2019, but “with a very promising quality, largely because of the heat that occurred during the maturation, especially in the first fortnight of September, which in this region close to the sea usually produces exceptional crops”.
“The fact that the price of grapes has remained stable in a year like this and, in some cases, with a slight upward trend, is a sign of confidence in the future and an evidence of the dynamism and performance of the Demarcated Region of Lisbon, whose sales have doubled in the last five years, currently standing at around 55 million bottles per year, and registering absolute records in the post confinement”, the official added.