Portugal grape harvesters work nights as heat rises

Workers at Herdade das Servas in Portugal's Alentejo region are harvesting grapes at night to avoid daytime temperatures above 40C, an adaptation the estate says has become necessary as heat and drought intensify.

The 350-hectare estate, about 150 kilometres east of Lisbon, fully adopted nighttime harvests in 2025 after a successful test in 2024. At midnight during the harvest, the temperature was still 28C, below a daytime peak of 40C.

Production director Renato Neves said cooler nights make manual work more bearable and bring grapes to the cellar fresher, delaying fermentation and helping decanting and aroma extraction. The estate, which produced about 277,000 litres of red, white and rose wine in 2025, also uses daytime solar power when cellar work is at full capacity.

The grape harvest in Alentejo began in early August, two weeks earlier than usual, after an exceptionally warm and dry summer in parts of Europe. The European Union's climate monitor reported Thursday that western Europe had its warmest summer in 2026 and that August was the hottest single month ever recorded globally.

Oenologist Rui Reguinga said night harvesting in Mediterranean climates was likely to remain as a response to climate change. Tiago Macena, another oenologist, said the method has limits because it needs specific organisation and workers prepared for night shifts, and is still largely used by larger estates in southern Portugal rather than smaller northern producers.