# Wine Flood in Portugal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** wine\ **Created:** [September 12, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983 "2023-09-12T13:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/1 "2023-09-12T13:34:38Z")
There are currently several places in the world that are suffering catastrophic flooding – Greece and Libya chief among them. It’s no laughing matter, with many deaths and huge amounts of property damage. Here is Massachusetts there is less severe, but nonetheless still catastrophic flooding in sand around the town of Leominster, which is still largely closed today. But one less serious note concerns a flood of red wine in the town of Sao Laurenco in Portugal, where two storage tanks burst and sent over half a million gallons of red wine (said to be enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool) down the streets. AFAIK, there were no casualties. > **[Streets Engulfed In Flash Flood Of Red Wine](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/portugal-wine-river_n_650041d8e4b0059160fe734a)** > > More than half a million gallons cascaded down a hill in São Lourenço do Bairro, Portugal. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/2 "2023-09-12T13:50:17Z")
That won’t match [2.3 million gallons of molasses that flooded Boston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood) in terms of damage, but given the choice I’d prefer a flood of port wine. Given a choice I’d prefer the wine to the water in my basement right now. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/3 "2023-09-12T13:51:36Z")
Saw that on the news this morning. On a positive note, it’s nice to know that there are still towns where you can just walk outside and get a cab. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/4 "2023-09-12T13:55:11Z")
@DavidNRockies ::The funniest thing I’ve read today! ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/5 "2023-09-12T14:52:51Z")
To be honest, while we make jokes about it, bet it would absolutely be serious if it were your home that is affected. A basement full of wine is a bad day and every bit as bad as river water or sea water. Maybe worse?. Stinky nasty stuff real quick. Probably draws lots of insects and other vermin. The video I saw, it was pretty much contained to the streets but I wonder if a lot of it ended up in homes or businesses. I thought wineries, breweries, distilleries and similar would be required to have some sort of containment measures to prevent this kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/6 "2023-09-12T15:02:03Z")
No idea if this is paywalled – I didn’t hit one, FWIW – but here’s a longer article. > **[Nearly 600,000 gallons of wine wash down the street in Portuguese town](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/09/12/portugal-wine-river-distillery/)** > > In the Portuguese town of São Lourenço do Bairro, residents woke up to a river of wine gushing down the streets after a distillery’s tanks burst open. > Sunday’s wine wave began at [Destilaria Levira](http://www.destilarialevira.com/DISTILLERY.pdf), a company that specializes in transforming wine into a slew of products, including gin, cleaning supplies and food oils. Though authorities are still investigating what caused the tanks to burst, the company said the wine they carried was essentially going to be destroyed — or distilled into raw alcohol — as part of the Portuguese government’s attempts to address a brewing wine crisis. > > The nation with the [world’s highest wine consumption per capita](https://www.statista.com/statistics/232754/leading-20-countries-of-wine-consumption/) is among the European countries grappling with a massive surplus of wine this year. The combination of rising production costs and an ever-increasing range of alcoholic drink options has resulted in plummeting demand for wine in countries such as France, Spain and Italy. > > [France has too much wine. It’s paying millions to destroy the leftovers.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/26/france-wine-surplus-drinking-less/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_11) > The wine in São Lourenço do Bairro, however, wound up in a wastewater treatment plant after the Anadia Volunteer Fire Brigade managed to reroute the liquid, [JN reported.](https://www.jn.pt/4056951067/inundacao-de-vinho-tinto-nas-ruas-de-anadia/) > The episode in Portugal isn’t the first time large amounts of wine have spilled. In 2020, the Russian River in California’s Sonoma County was tainted red after a [97,000-gallon winery tank burst open](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/24/wine-spill-california/?itid=lk_inline_manual_23). That same year, a [13,000-gallon tank broke](https://twitter.com/RadioAlbacete/status/1309430714627223553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1309430714627223553%7Ctwgr%5Ee7bcd286026ce56a96ae90c74ec5d77c9e2cf326%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodandwine.com%2Fembed%3Furl%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Ftwitter2Fstatus2F1309430714627223553id%3Dmntl-sc-block_1-0-2-iframeoptions%3De303DdocId%3D6402205)at a Spanish winery, leaving a flood of red wine gushing down like a breached dam. Edited to add a link to the original Portuguese article (“JN reported”). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/7 "2023-09-12T15:02:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > That won’t match [2.3 million gallons of molasses that flooded Boston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood) in terms of damage, but given the choice I’d prefer a flood of port wine. Given a choice I’d prefer the wine to the water in my basement right now. I couldn’t help but think of Boston’s molasses flood, living in the Boston area and having read **Dark Tide**. But that was a real disaster that took lives and did serious property damage. The idea of a molasses flood _sounds_ funny, but molasses, unlike sloths and giant snails, can move pretty damned fast under the right circumstances, and getting caught in it was no joke. The wine flood, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have caused casualties or serious damage. And the company has agreed to cover any damages. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/8 "2023-09-12T15:50:12Z")
Huh ! Typical… just as the french are destroying wine because they’ve got too much !! > [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across/851674/7554): > > France has so much wine that the government wants overstocks destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/9 "2023-09-12T15:53:27Z")
My mind immediately went to the [Dublin whiskey fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_whiskey_fire). Don’t drink cask strength whiskey, people. Apparently wikipedia has a [whole list of non-water floods.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-water_floods) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/10 "2023-09-12T15:58:26Z")
👏 👏 👏 👏 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/11 "2023-09-12T16:21:03Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Huh ! Typical… just as the french are destroying wine Scroll up a bit – this wine was scheduled to be destroyed as well. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/12 "2023-09-12T16:29:04Z")
😕 I don’t understand this concept of too much wine ! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/13 "2023-09-12T16:34:17Z")
I guess it’s cheaper to destroy wine than what shipping to where there is enough of a demand would cost. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/14 "2023-09-12T16:58:18Z")
We drink a ton of French wine in St Martin (the French side). We pay a fraction of what we would pay in the US. If for some reason we’d prefer a California wine it would be very expensive. Likewise, I drink Heineken on the Dutch side. It is very cheap. There is, however, a “Steelers Bar” where you can buy Iron City Beer at a crazy inflated price (and people do). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/15 "2023-09-12T17:10:35Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > My mind immediately went to the [Dublin whiskey fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_whiskey_fire). Don’t drink cask strength whiskey, people. Apparently wikipedia has a [whole list of non-water floods.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-water_floods) You should’ve quoted from the article: > [@](#): > > None of the fatalities suffered during the fire were due to smoke inhalation, burns, or any other form of direct contact with the fire itself; all of them were attributed to alcohol poisoning _All of the fatalities were attributed to alcohol poisoning_ If it weren’t so serious, it’d be hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/16 "2023-09-12T17:12:45Z")
And from your other cite: > [@](#): > > Firefighting water washed a mixture of molten chocolate and butter out onto neighbouring streets where it blocked storm drains and caused a flood sufficient to “float a rowboat for two blocks”. Local children crowded to the site to taste the mixture. > > … > > The flood attracted “a thousand and one” local children, keen to taste the mixture. The police initially made no attempt to stop them but around an hour after their arrival truant officers began collecting the children to take them to their schools. At least there weren’t any fatalities. Molten chocolate and butter is safer than undiluted whiskey. > **[Rockwood & Company shipping department fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwood_%26_Company_shipping_department_fire)** > > .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}40°41′51″N 73°58′05″W / 40.69750°N 73.96806°W / 40.69750; -73.96806 > > > On May 12, 1919, a fire broke out in the shipping department of the Rockwood & Company chocolate factory complex on Flushing Avenue ... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/17 "2023-09-12T17:20:59Z")
I was just reading about that molasses flood a couple weeks ago. I knew about it, and guessed (correctly) that the tanks probably weren’t even suitable to hold water, let alone a heavy substance like molasses, but the tanks leaked even beforehand and children in the neighborhood would peel dried molasses off the tank, in the areas where it oozed out, and ate it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/18 "2023-09-12T17:23:49Z")
It sounds like this wine was of poor enough quality, flavor-wise, that it was destined for industrial use, or to be made into vinegar. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/19 "2023-09-12T17:33:08Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > It sounds like this wine was of poor enough quality, flavor-wise That’s possible but there is an overabundance of wine in Europe. > **[Crisis distillation: Portugal also destroys wine - Falstaff](https://www.falstaff.com/en/news/crisis-distillation-portugal-also-destroys-wine)** > > Wine sales in some European countries are collapsing. Now Portugal is also distilling surplus stocks of red and rosé wine. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983/20 "2023-09-12T18:02:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > children in the neighborhood would peel dried molasses off the tank, in the areas where it oozed out, and ate it. Not even dried, in fact-- kids were swiping away liquid molasses from the joints. It wasn’t even food-grade molasses. It was pretty raw stuff that was being stored until they could use it to ferment and distill alcohol. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-flood-in-portugal/989983.md?page=2)