Legislative Elections 2025: Where does Viticulture stand in the political debate?

While debates for the 2025 legislative elections rage on screens and social media, with proposals for everything — health, housing, taxes, excessive immigration — there is one topic that, once again, seems to be swept under the rug: Agriculture . And within it, the sector that perhaps best represents the identity, landscape, and rural economy of Portugal — Viticulture — continues to be silently ignored.

And amidst all of this… the numbers:

Viticulture directly represents about 0.5% of Portugal's GDP (grape production, wine, and associated processing). This may seem small, but the story changes when we look at the total impact.

With the expanded supply chain — logistics, exports, wine cellars, restaurants, and especially wine tourism — this weight rises to more than 2.5% of the national GDP . A value equivalent to the automotive or pharmaceutical sectors.

And we are talking about an activity that is spread throughout the territory , that generates employment in the interior , that enhances the landscape , that attracts investment and quality tourism .

And what about the immigrants?

Interestingly, the most discussed topic in the legislative elections —highlighted in the fiery speeches from almost all sides—is immigration . There's talk of quotas, integration, security, regularization. But nobody connects this to the rural world , where these same immigrants are, today, the basis of the workforce.

According to industry data, more than 70% of the workforce employed in grape harvests in regions like the Douro is of immigrant origin . But who are these workers? They are workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Guinea-Bissau, Pakistan, among others—who arrive without any viticultural tradition or culture , and learn "on the job," in the field, from those who remained here.

But without them, the harvest would collapse . And with the aging of the rural population, the scenario becomes even more critical.

However, unlike other wine-producing countries with active policies for training and valuing migrant agricultural labor , in Portugal the sector continues to lack consistent support.

The paradigmatic case of the Douro:

Let's look at the Douro. A historic region, a UNESCO World Heritage site, synonymous with human effort in terraced vineyards, which has endured for centuries through frosts, droughts, and market crises. In 2024/2025, this region faces problems that should be at the top of political priorities—but which remain voiceless on the big stages.

• Grape and wine prices at unsustainable levels .

  In many areas of the Lower and Upper Corgo, winegrowers are selling their grapes below the cost of production. According to data from winegrowers and associations (e.g., ProDouro), the average prices paid for grapes for Port wine and DOC Douro have been very low .

  
  

Average price per kg (general red grapes): €0.30 to €0.45/kg

For top quality grapes (A/B): €0.50–0.70/kg , but this represents a minority.

...That is, if they manage to sell them...there are already several cases of producers who have been notified by companies that they will not be able to keep the grapes...

• Extreme fragmentation of property ownership .

  Small winegrowers, with plots on mid-slopes, without scale, without negotiating power. Almost no one talks about this during the campaigns.

  
  

• Abandonment of land and human desertification .

  With children and grandchildren leaving for the coast or abroad, who will take care of the vineyard? Seventy-year-olds? Where is the plan for generational succession in viticulture?

  
  

• Importation of wine and brandy from Spain.

  In the heart of the Douro Demarcated Region, thousands of liters of bulk wine and Spanish brandy are imported annually— to fortify Port wine or supplement stocks. This occurs while Douro grapes are paid for in cents , and many small producers are unable to sell their produce. A glaring paradox: importing what the region itself cannot value .

The Silence That Disturbs:

There is not a single fundamental agricultural theme on the agendas of the major parties. The interior is discussed as a landscape, as a tourist postcard. But what about the living agents of this landscape? The winegrowers, the winemakers, the technicians, the small rural entrepreneurs? They remain off the radar.

Portuguese viticulture needs a structured public policy with a long-term vision. The sector doesn't want perpetual subsidies—it wants investment, training, external promotion, research, and above all, respect .

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WRITTEN BY:

Pedro Fernandes

Pedro Fernandes is a Portuguese winemaker who has been involved in viticulture since he was 11 years old, where he started making his first wines with his father and doing tasks such as pruning.

Since then he has never stopped and in 2018 he decided to dedicate himself to the wine sector, starting by doing "everything backwards". He began by taking wine specialization courses such as WSET (Direct Wine) and Wine Expertise (ISAG) in 2018/2019. Then he graduated from the University of Nebrijia in Madrid, obtaining an MBA in Oenology (2020). In 2021, at the age of 39, he decided to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Oenology (UTAD), and against all odds, he finished the course in 2024.

Along the way, he created his first personal wine brand - Chãos - and completed an internship at the prestigious Chateau Latour (in Bordeaux).

Currently, he works as a consultant in the wine sector, where he plays a role not only as an oenologist, but also in creating business strategies for wine producers, with a current vision of the market, which includes resources from Digital Marketing and Wine Tourism.