The Douro and Porto region is Portugal’s single most important wine region and accounting for around a quarter of national output with this forecast potentially representing the highest level of production since 2010/2011 and up 8% on the annualised average.


In overall terms, the Institute is expecting national production of 6.7 million hectolitres of wine against 6.2 million last year with the majority of the regions seeing output rise apart from the Setúbal Peninsula, where a 10% fall is offset by good grape quality, and the Tejo and Alentejo regions where output is estimated to remain steady with the latter region producing 1.2 million hectolitres.


The Setúbal Peninsula region has been hit by a lack of rainfall for non-irrigated vines, with white castes particularly affected, although the smaller grapes prove better for wine making.


Elsewhere, the regions of Terras da Beira, Minho, Beira Atlântico and the Algarve are expected to see a 10% rise in production to a collective 1.2 million hectolitres with Lisbon doing slightly better on 11% and resulting in 992,000 hectolitres.