Spanish Wine Crop Threatened

Filed in archive Spanish Wines on September 15, 2007

Bureaucracy, not weather, is threatening Spain's vineyards right now and putting this year's wine crop at risk. The Spanish wine harvest began this week, and typically Romanians and Bulgarians head into the country to pick the grapes. But rising frustrations over immigration is making it difficult for these workers to come into Spain and get the job done.

From the Times Online:

In an attempt to avoid an influx of immigrants, Spain recently passed a law that Spanish companies looking to employ Romanians and Bulgarians must contract them in their own country. Seasonal work, such as grape-picking, is exempted, but Spanish companies must still prove that the work is seasonal and any foreign workers will return to their homelands once the harvest is gathered. Spanish farmers failed to organise the paperwork in time.