The vineyards established in the terri-
tory of Rio Grande do Sul produce a huge
portion of the Brazilian grapes and wines.
Grapes arrived in Brazil by the hands of
the Portuguese settlers, back in 1532, in
the region now occupied by the State of
São Paulo, according to records released
by Embrapa, based in Bento Gonçalves
(RS). From São Paulo, vineyards migrat-
ed to other regions across the Country, al-
ways with Vitis vinifera cultivars, brought
from Portugal and Spain. In the first de-
cades of the 19th century, the importation
of American grapes also brought fungi dis-
eases that eventually caused the decline of
the vineyards in the colonial times. In the
various regions in the Country, the Isabel
cultivar was predominant, and it eventu-
ally became the basis for the commercial
development of viticulture in the States of
Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo.
Now, 15 Brazilian states grow grapes,
according to the Systematic Survey of Ag-
ricultural Production (LSPA), conducted
by the Brazilian Institute of Geography
and Statistics (IBGE). National produc-
tion reached 1.499 million tons of grapes
in 2015. Of this total, 876.2 thousand
tons were harvested in the vineyards in
Rio Grande do Sul. The second biggest
volume, 237.3 thousand tons, was pro-
duced in Pernambuco. São Paulo was the
third largest producer, with 142 thou-
sand tons of grapes.
The total volume of grapes harvested
in 2015 was up 4.41% from the previous
year. However, over the period the States
that produced less were Bahia (-0.13%),
São Paulo (-3.22%) and Paraná (-1.12%).
“In these States, besides unfavorable
weather conditions, the reduction in
planted area was also a factor”, says Loiva
Maria Ribeiro de Mello, researcher at Em-
brapa Grapes and Wine. Production in-
creases took place in Rio Grande do Sul
(7.85%), Santa Catarina (4.66%), Minas
Gerais (9.15%) and Pernambuco (0.25%).
Of the traditional winegrowing states,
only Minas Gerais expanded its planted
area, from 834 hectares to 925 hectares in
2015, representing an increase of 10.91%.
Reductions in planted area were regis-
tered in the states of Paraná (-13.98%), São
Paulo (-5.86%) and Rio Grande do Sul
(-0.51%). The vineyards in São Paulo had
already decreased 12.79% in 2014. These
vineyards occupied an area of 79.094 hect-
In Brazil, grapes are produced in 15 states,
but RioGrande do Sul is the leader, with a
planted area of 50 thousandhectares in 2015
Map of the
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Sílvio Ávila
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