Portugal and Spain have also been hit hard by forest fires, just like the fires in California. A dry and hot October made it easy for fires to start. When the hurricane Ophelia came, the result became catastrophic. 45 people are believed to have died and the material damage is high. It was mainly northern Portugal that suffered, mostly in the wine district of Dão but also in many other parts of northern Portugal.
When we were in the Douro Valley on one of our wine tours shortly after the fires we could see no traces of it in that region.
In Spain, the fires spread in Rías Baixas and Galicia. Fortunately, there was a long-awaited rain that dampened or extinguished the fires, but many vineyards and wineries (and much else!) had already suffered considerable damage.
Read more: nytimes.com and winespectator.com
