Price of wine set to soar
The price of wine is about to go up because of the soaring production costs.
The rising costs of glass, pesticides, fertilisers, corks, labels, pallets, cardboard boxes and shipping containers, not to mention energy costs, have all put pressure the final cost of a bottle of wine.
Prices began to go up at the beginning of the year, but supply chain problems, the war in Ukraine and record energy costs mean that even higher prices will be passed on to supermarkets, wine shops and restaurants.
In 2021, the cost of overseas shipping tripled in price and suppliers have begun to revise the prices of materials used by the wine industry.
In an interview with online news source ECO, Martim Guedes, CEO of Avaleda, the largest producer of the light and slightly sparkling Portuguese white wine Vinho Verde with brands such as Casal Garcia, said that the cost of wine bottles are now 50% more expensive than they had been a year ago.
“We increased prices at a modest 3% for clients but this clearly falls short of the actual price it cost to produce a bottle of wine. Costs have gone up by 10% just in materials alone and these costs are rising daily. Inevitably we’ll have to put prices up by the end of the year,” he said.
“Inflation is inevitable and will have an impact on consumption, and it is only natural that some consumers will buy cheaper wines or switch to beer,” he added.
João Caldeira, the managing director of Carmin, a wine cooperative in the Alentejo that produces Reguengos, said that glass and transport costs had gone up by two digits but he was also concerned about possible shortages in fertilisers and pesticides, many of which are produced in Eastern Europe which in turn could lead to taking decisions to use alternatives that might not be so effective”.