Wineries pay a lot for the grape to prevent business from ending

They had 40 wineries in Vila Franca do Campo, now they have less and less. Manuel Rainha has kept its doors opened for 27 years, always paying well and on time. However, the business “is very bad”, he says. The rains of the past few days have not helped producers. Manuel Rainha spent 5 years working in his brother's winery, also in Vila Franca do Campo, and then he emigrated to Canada. He remembers going unwilling, but at the time that was his best solution. Although his wife had family there - 7 brothers and her mother – the couple didn't like living there, so they ended up returning to São Miguel. “We like it like”, he says. They live with their three children, two boys and a girl. Three months later, after returning from Canada, Manuel Rainha set up is own winery in Ribeira Seca. “I created this life for me”, he says. 27 years ago, the F. Simas Rainha winery was born, amongst many others in Vila Franca do Campo. There were some producers that made their own wine “vinho de cheiro” at home. At 61 of age, Manuel Rainha says the secret is hard work: “if we don’t work, we won’t get anywhere”, he says. Besides his 5 employees, Manuel Rainha has the help of his two sons, that despite their own jobs, always give a helping hand at the winery, where “Boa Pinga” is made. “They know how to buy, how to sell and how to pay”, says Manuel Rainha, looking at his two sons working, as he gives this interview. Friday is not the busiest day, nevertheless buckets full of grapes keep arriving. The past rainy days are scaring the producers, who are afraid of losing the harvests. “The weather is ruining the grapes”, explains Manuel Rainha, adding “they are eager to harvest, but I say no”. He points out that “garbage doesn’t sell”. He knows that those rainy days are not helping, but grapes need time to mature. “We need to wait if we want a quality product”, he says, “without quality we can’t sell”. In Vila Franca do Campo, Manuel Rainha and other producers chose to pay more, to maintain the quality of the grape “uva de cheiro”, and preventing people to stop buying it. In this winery, they pay 70 cents a kilo, as for other types of wine the prices (in the mainland for example) are around 24 and 30 cents a kilo. When he buys the grapes he always pays at the time of delivery: “People who sell grapes need to received their money on time”, says Manuel Rainha. Despite being well paid, a lot of people abandoned their vineyards. “Many turned to agriculture”, he says.  It doesn’t pay off to cultivate land, because the labor is too expensive. Cultivating “uva de cheiro” is all about manual work, as the process cannot be mechanized like in the vineyards for the so called “European wine”. The construction of new roads have also taken pieces of land from the vineyards. “The elderly gets bored and the younger generation is not interested in learning the craft”, explains the businessman. “Back in the day, the wine business meant that a lot of people could afford to send their kids to school”, says Manuel Rainha, explaining that now it barely pays the bills. He still remembers his “best year”, in which he produced 800 thousand liters of wine, that, in part, he had to store at other producers’ wineries, even in Água de Pau. He paid about 100 “contos” a month to use the tanks of other producers, says Manuel Rainha. Now, he admits that is difficult to produce those quantities. Last year, they produced 150 thousand liters and, this year, they might produce a bit more, as long as it’s a quality product. Vinho de cheiro is considered the “poor relative” Abondoned by many and discriminated by others. In Manuel Rainha’s winery many are the arguments in favor of this wine and, yes, “it has a different scent, but it’s not a bad one”. “Older people have a vivid memory of Vila Franca full of vineyards”, that now have been replaced by banana trees. The 50 cents a kilo of bananas, giving by the government, made people trade the wine business for banana cultivation. There’s a lack of vineyards, but also of “qualified people to work at the vineyards”, because the elderly doesn’t have anyone to teach. There’s a lack of producers, but also fewer and fewer people that drink the wine “vinho de cheiro”. Also, the traditional Azorean festivities no longer promote this local product. The organizations no longer buy the wine “vinho de cheiro”, because they prefer to purchase abroad the packs of wine. He says it’s a shame that the Azorean people doesn’t help local products and the local economy. They are less people buying this wine also because of doctors. “Don’t drink ‘vinho de cheiro’, drink red wine instead”, they say it’s the advice some doctors give their patients, but they don’t understand what are the scientific evidences to this advice. Nuno Rainha explains that ‘vinho de cheiro’ has more resveratrol, an antioxidant substance, good for our health. He believes the problem is the same that happens with other wines, the excessive consumption. As it has lower percentage of alcohol, people drink it more. The ideal is to drink with moderation, he advices, and if the doctor “prescribes” a glass of wine at dinner, then why not a glass of “vinho de cheiro?”. Some specialists also discriminates this wine, and some even say “it’s juice, not wine”.   Bárbara Almeida