Levira Distillery (Destilaria Levira) is a distillery in São Lourenço do Bairro, Anadia, Portugal, founded in 1923.
According to Público, Levira is one of the country's largest distilleries.[1]
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Levira partnered with Super Bock to make about 14,000 litres (3,700 US gal) of hand sanitizer from 56,000 litres (15,000 US gal) of alcohol used in beer.[2][3][4]
In 2023, the distillery amassed a large quantity of wine in storage due to a European wine surplus. Inflation increased prices on food and drinks and consumers were drinking less wine both in Portugal and in the countries it typically exports to. This, combined with a productive grape harvest, led to increased storage.[5][6]
On 10 September 2023, a "structural failure" in a storage tank of red wine caused it to collapse. The force of its contents spilling out knocked over a second tank, resulting in about 2,200,000 litres (580,000 US gal) of wine flowing down Rua de Cima in the village of São Lourenço do Bairro.[7][8][6] As of the following day, though the road and at least one basement flooded, there were no injuries.[9][10] Local officials issued an environmental warning out of concern that the wine could contaminate the Certima River.[11] The local fire department closed access to the road and tried to divert the wine away from the river into a field, which Levira then began to dredge.[12] The distillery issued a statement taking responsibility and committing to clean it up.[12] Clips of the incident went viral on social media.[11][13] The cause of the accident is undetermined.[10]
References
edit- ^ Lusa (23 March 2020). "Coronavírus: Bairrada quer produzir gel desinfectante a partir de aguardente vínica". Público (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Caetano, Maria João (29 March 2020). "Ventiladores, testes, máscaras. Investigadores e empresas nacionais procuram soluções". Diário de Notícias (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Neves, Rui (20 March 2020). "Super Bock e Levira convertem álcool de cerveja em gel desinfectante para o SNS". Jornal de Negócios (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Pinto, José Volta e (20 March 2020). "Coronavírus: Super Bock e Destilaria Levira convertem álcool de cerveja em gel desinfectante". Público (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Romero, Dennis (12 September 2023). "A river of surplus wine roared through the streets of a small town in Portugal". NBC News. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ a b Moses, Claire (12 September 2023). "A 'River' of Wine Flooded the Streets of a Town in Portugal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ "Wine flows through streets of Portuguese village after accident at distillery". Sky News. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Robledo, Anthony (11 September 2023). "Town in Portugal flooded by red wine after distillery's tanks burst: Reports". USA Today. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ Squires, Nick (11 September 2023). "Watch: Two million litres of red wine flood the streets of a village". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ a b "Road turns into river of red wine". The Portugal News. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ a b Kika, Thomas (11 September 2023). "Video of red wine flooding town viewed 4 million times". Newsweek. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ a b "OPEN BAR: Tanks burst, 2.2 million-litre wine river created in Portugese [sic] village". Toronto Sun. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Watch | 600,000 gallons of red wine flows through streets of Portuguese town, netizens stunned". WION. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.