Spain is undergoing the earliest grape harvest in its recent history this summer, a shift of nearly three weeks that signals trouble rather than good news for the country's wine industry. Behind the early start lies a shrinking harvest, rising costs, and thousands of vintners struggling to keep their land in production.
The Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA), a farmers' and ranchers' union, has warned of the start of one of the earliest grape harvests on record in Spain. In several regions, including Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalucía, the grape picking has already begun more than 20 days ahead of the usual dates, a situation the organization attributes directly to the effects of climate change.
Intense heat waves recorded in recent months have sped up grape ripening, disrupting the traditional harvest calendar and cutting into production. According to UPA's initial estimates, this year's harvest could match or fall below the level recorded in 2025, which was the second worst of the century.
Falling stocks, low prices
The drop in production coincides with lower volumes of stored wine. Even so, that has not translated into better prices for growers. UPA says market expectations remain very low and that the offers being made still fail to cover production costs, despite market logic suggesting the smaller stock should push prices up.
UPA warned that the combination of smaller harvests, soaring production costs and insufficient prices is making the activity unviable for thousands of family-run operations. Fertilizer, fuel, energy and other inputs have driven up costs sharply in recent years, while the profitability of the crop keeps deteriorating.
Vineyards disappearing
As a result of this lack of profitability, more and more vintners are being forced to abandon the activity or pull up their vines. UPA says the trend repeats season after season and is causing a worrying loss of the country's productive potential. Between 2005 and 2025, Spain lost more than 200,000 hectares of vineyard, a figure the union says shows the steady retreat of a strategic crop for many rural areas.
UPA's demands
UPA is calling for a package of urgent measures to guarantee the viability of the wine sector. It first demands strict compliance by wineries with Spain's Food Chain Law, so that the prices paid to producers cover at least the actual costs of production.
The union is also asking for a specific aid scheme for dry-farmed vineyards under the next Common Agricultural Policy, in recognition of the environmental, economic and social role these operations play. UPA also proposes launching a "surgical uprooting" scheme, jointly funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Spain's regional governments, for areas where removing vines is needed to reorganize productive potential without endangering the sector as a whole.
The union additionally wants regional governments to provide complementary aid on top of what the Ministry has already approved, to offset the rise in fertilizer and fuel costs.
A strategic and environmental crop
UPA says the vineyard is a strategic crop for Spain, not only for its economic weight and its capacity to create jobs and keep people in rural areas, but also for its environmental role. Vineyards act as large natural firebreaks, help preserve the landscape and play an essential part in helping the land adapt to climate change.
In a statement, UPA called on all levels of government to act in a coordinated and decisive way before the sector's economic decline causes an irreversible abandonment of thousands of family farms and threatens the future of one of Spain's most emblematic agricultural products.
