In Portugal, the cool of the night is when some vineyards harvest grapes

Vimimieiro, Portugal – Under a moonlight sky and the light of the headlights, workers carefully pick grape clusters while a large part of Portugal sleeps.

They harvest in the Alentejo region, sometimes called “Tuscany of Portugal” for its rolling vineyards, its olive-bosquets and its forests which provide cork for wines. In this vineyard about 90 minutes by car to the east of Lisbon, the fresh fall night is the smell of ripe fruit. Workers laughs with the noise of rustling leaves.

The night harvest is a secular practice in viticulture, intended to preserve the freshness of the grapes and to protect them from the undesirable effects of daytime heat, sunlight and oxidation. As summers in Portugal develop longer, warmer and more unpredictable – partly due to climate change – practice has become more common here.

Bárbara Monteiro, co -owner and director of the Herdade Da Fonte Santa Vineyard, said that she had trouble at the start to convince her harvesters to work at night – from midnight to 8 am, they started doing so in 2019.

“Today, we can say that they really prefer this calendar, because they can often work almost another day, enjoy the day and avoid the extreme heat that we often live here,” she said.

Wine harvest in Spain, Italy and Portugal generally takes place between the end of August and October, with variations based on the region, the type of grapes and weather conditions.

Some vineyards have been harvesting at night for years. In some parts of Italy, others have had it for more than a decade. The El Coto vineyard of Rioja in the famous Spanish region of the Rioja opts for harvests early in the morning, from 5 or 6 am, according to César Fernández, the technical director and winemaker of the vineyard.

In the Alentejo region of Portugal, daytime temperatures, especially in August, can reach 40 Celsius (104 fahrenheit). At night, they can go up to 20 ° C (36 F) or more.

The grapes are naturally sensitive to temperature changes. Hoter weather can make them reach the maturity of sugar before developing a complete flavor and maturity, which leads to higher alcohol levels but less complex wines. Intense heat also accelerates the loss of acid and can trigger early fermentation as wild yeasts and bacteria become more active.

By harvesting at night, winegrowers can lock more vibrant flavors that improve the quality of the wine produced.

“Climate change has considerably influenced our harvest and the process and we have adapted over the years,” said Monteiro.

Harvesters do not care about softer temperatures either.

Foreman Vitor Lucas, 55, says he prefers night harvest, even if there are hot nights in early August.

Around 3 am, workers take a short break to rest and take advantage of a meal known as “bucha”, composed of cheese, olives, chorizo, bread and even a little wine. Then they return to the fields for another four hours before returning home.

Wine harvest generally ends in September or October. At the end of the season, temperatures have cooled considerably when Foreman Lucas and almost 10 others work in the fields.

“This is a harvest that we like to make,” he said.

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Naishadham reported to Madrid.

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