

Destilaria Levira, the winery behind the red wine flood, issued a statement, and they’re super sorry about the whole ordeal. They’re promising to cover all the cleanup costs, which is pretty decent of them. São Lourenço do Bairro is nestled near the coast, just a stone’s throw away from Porto, so you know they take their wine seriously.
Thankfully, no one got hurt when this crimson tsunami hit the streets. But word on the grapevine is that at least one cellar got a bit of an unexpected soak. Local officials are now rolling up their sleeves to fix things up and make sure the wine doesn’t mess with the nearby farms, vineyards, or water supplies.
Now, you might wonder what all that wine was doing there in the first place. Well, it turns out it was part of the government’s “crisis distillation” program. They’re trying to clear the market pipeline of excess wine before the upcoming harvest. So, it was meant to be turned into something stronger, if you catch our drift.
Here’s the thing, though: Portugal loves its wine. They’ve got the highest wine consumption per capita in the world. But, like many European countries, they’re going through a bit of a rough patch in the wine department. Their wine consumption has taken a 34% nosedive, according to the European Union. Inflation and other factors are putting the squeeze on the vino biz. France and Germany aren’t faring much better.





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