Levira Distillery (Destilaria Levira) is a distilleryinSão 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]
