Algarve's wine production to hit five year high, with new varietals boosting yields
The Algarve’s wine production is on track to hit a five year high, with production during 2019/2020 expected to increase by 5% compared to the previous year.
According to the Portuguese Vine and Wine Institute (IVV), this equates to an increase of around 32% when taking the average for the last five years into account, translating into a total of 1.8 million litres of wine made in the region.
The increased production is largely down to the introduction of a number of new grape varietials, said the IVV, which added that the region’s wine production was thriving despite the discovery of powdery mildew, a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants, and plant-eating leafhoppers, which wine producers were able to control.
With 41 wine producers in the region, that number has been steadingly increasing in recent years, according to the president of the Algarve Wine Commission Sara Silva. She added that while Algarve used to be a wine region where almost every wine produced was red, there is now a growing number of whites and rosés which are “favourites among foreign visitors”.