With flashlights on their heads, farmers at a grape farm in Alentejo region, southern Portugal begin grape harvesting as night falls.
Climate change is making extreme heat waves and droughts in Europe more serious and prolonged. The European Union (EU) climate monitoring agency said that Western Europe has just experienced the hottest summer ever recorded, while August is the hottest month globally.
This situation forced wine-producing regions in southern Europe, including Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, to change production methods.
At Herdade das Servas, a farm of about 350ha, 150km east of Lisbon, Portugal, night grape harvesting has been fully implemented since last year after successful testing in 2024.
Initially, people were hesitant about changing working hours. However, they gradually adapted to nighttime work when the temperature was cooler and manual harvesting was also more convenient.
The grape harvest season in Alentejo this year starts from the beginning of August, about two weeks earlier than usual due to hot and dry weather. Although it is midnight, the temperature at this farm is still at 28 degrees Celsius. This temperature is significantly lower than the highest level of 40 degrees Celsius during the day, although it is already September.
Night harvesting not only helps reduce the impact of hot sun but is also beneficial for wine production activities. Grapes are brought back in a fresher condition, slowing down the fermentation process, supporting the deposition process and extracting fragrance. To cope with hot and dry conditions, the farm also keeps weeds under the grape roots to maintain soil moisture.
With a production scale of about 277,000 liters of red, white and pink wine in 2025, Herdade das Servas has maintained this harvesting method as part of its production operations.
Wine expert Rui Reguinga said that harvesting grapes at night is one of the ways the wine industry responds to climate change and will continue to be applied in Mediterranean climate areas.
However, changing working hours also requires a separate organization and a workforce ready to work at night. Currently, this form is mainly applied at large farms in southern Portugal, while small manufacturers in the north have not widely applied it.
