(ConservativeInsider.org) – The townspeople of Sao Lorenco de Bairro of Portugal were enjoying a lovely Sunday last week until two storage tanks of wine collapsed and began to spill their contents. Wine flowed downhill covering the coastal city in what resembled a flash flood.
The town’s 2,000 citizens were shocked to see a river of red wine covering the roadway. Levira Distillery owns the two tanks and has taken full responsibility for clean-up while investigating the cause. Levira is one of the largest distilleries in Portugal and happened to have a large stockpile of wine on hand in 2023 due to European surplus and inflation, causing less drinking overall. Levira Distillery makes wine and then using the by-products of wine, produces various other products, according to their website.
Efforts were immediately underway to prevent the wine from contaminating the nearby Certima River. The Fire Department could divert much of the wine river to a nearby empty field instead of polluting the river. No injuries are noted, but damage calculations are growing exponentially as people assess damage and needed repairs. The wine-soaked soil will be removed and treated as necessary.
The two tanks held 2.2 million liters of wine, about 600,000 gallons or nearly 3 million bottles. If that wine costs $5 USD per bottle, then just the cost of the wine would be $15 million USD, with no mention of the extensive damage suffered by the town. The damage will likely total several million dollars, if not more.
The Levira Distillery was founded in 1923 and has no other incidents of note as this one. They were able to alter their factory and produce hand sanitizer during the pandemic and produce 15,000 gallons of sanitizing gel in 2020. Levira exports wine to neighboring countries, and Portuguese wine accounts for 2% of total exports.
Copyright 2023, ConservativeInsider.org
