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A few centuries ago—and we don’t have to look very far—poor young women were burned in village squares for witchcraft, all due to foolish superstitions
Following the great success of the 2021 edition, with 42 speakers and 5500 registered participants from 70 different countries, on Monday, March 13, 2023, between
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment collaborates with the Spanish Federation of Spirits drinks to improve the competitiveness of the sector by signing a general protocol of action, which took place on March 1st. The agreement includes actions to promote sustainable growth and the internationalization of the sector, as well as the responsible consumption of these drinks. It also recognizes the opportunity to establish a stable framework for collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the spirits sector.
Globalcaja has organized a series of information days to analyze the new line of aid for reconversion and restructuring of vineyards, once the Order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development has been published, by which these aids are regulated within the support program 2019-2023 and they are called for execution in 2019 and 2020, to be requested before March 15th, 2018.
The Spanish Government has approved, in the Council of Ministers held on January 12th, the application of the Support Program for the Spanish wine sector for the period 2019-2023. A decision that will make available to the sector measures financed by the EU, with an estimated budget of more than 1,000 million euros. The measures eligible to apply for grants will be wine promotion in third countries, restructuring and reconversion of vineyards, distillation of by-products and investments.
The Valencian agricultural organizations AVA-ASAJA and La Unió de Llauradors i Ramaders have attacked the ministerial decision to limit the new vineyard plantations for the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Cava, considering it very harmful to the interests of viticulture of its autonomous community. Thus, from AVA-ASAJA, its president, Cristóbal Aguado affirms that the ministerial disposition “is very short and represents a serious blow to the expectations of a growing sector”. For its part, LA UNIÓ has criticized that, with this decision, the Ministry has folded to the interests of the DO Cava, controlled by the large Catalan wineries, and has called on the Ministry of Agriculture to initiate as many actions as it deems appropriate to defend the interests of the vine growers in a very important subject for the region of Requena-Utiel. Throughout the month of January this agrarian union will study possible protests.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment has set at 4,950 hectares the area that may be authorized for applications for new vineyard plantations in 2018, at the national level, according to the resolution of the General Directorate of Agricultural Production and Markets published on December 29th in the BOE. As reported by MAPAMA, this area represents 0.52% of the area currently planted with vineyards, which means maintaining the same growth rate as in the previous season.
The agricultural organization UPA has made a negative balance, both in production and in prices, of the current harvest, once this has become widespread throughout the national territory. Thus, and according to their calculations, the production of grapes has decreased by 20% as a result of bad climatology, a decline that in some territories has reached 60%. Although this bad situation is also suffered by other European competitors, in Spain winegrowers also have to deal with low prices. For this reason, the UPA has asked the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) to intensify controls of compliance with the Law of the food chain.
The intense storm of hail that discharged in the afternoon of Wednesday, September 6th, in the region of Utiel-Requena has caused damages worth one million euros in an area of ​​700 hectares of cultivation of vineyard, olive and almond tree, according to the estimates of the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA). The municipal terms that have been more punished have been Jaraguas, Venta del Moro, Villargordo del Cabriel and Casas del Rey.
Miguel A. Torres, president of Bodegas Torres, recently took over the presidency of the Spanish Wine Federation (FEV), replacing Christian Barre, who in a few months shortened his mandate to occupy new responsibilities within the Pernod Ricard group as CEO of Havana Club International in Cuba.
On 12th July, the Cava Regulatory Council presented the ‘II Cava Excellence Awards’, which aim to recognize those people who in their different professions have helped to exalt and give prestige to the cava. These prizes, therefore, are a public recognition of their work and contribution to the prestige of this sparkling wine and its positioning as a quality product.
The wine sector has celebrated the principle of a trade agreement recently reached between the European Union and Japan, which will give a strong boost to wine exports to the Japanese market. Thus, the Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan, which could enter into force in 2019, eliminates import tariffs and includes protection for geographical indications.
The ninth edition of the most important wine fair in Spain, FENAVIN, began its journey after an opening ceremony in which it was emphasized the importance of betting on the internationalization of the national wine production, which was attended by Emiliano GarcÃa Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, the Minister of Agriculture of this autonomous community, Francisco MartÃnez Arroyo, the president of the Diputación and FENAVIN, José Manuel Caballero, the mayor of Ciudad Real, Pilar Zamora, and the general secretary of Agriculture and Food of MAPAMA, Carlos Cabanas Godino.
Canarias exhibits the excellence of its wines in FENAVIN 2017, one of the most important meeting points of the wine sector, which stands out for its ability to generate business contacts and whose last edition brings together some 17,000 buyers. The presence of the Canary Islands in this fair, which takes place in Ciudad Real from 9th to 11th May, will be strongly represented by the wines from 19 wineries and seven Regulatory Councils of the Denominations of Origin of the Archipelago, as well as the Cabildo de Tenerife, through The Vinos de Tenerife brand, which will participate in this fair under the umbrella of the Canarian Government’s stand.
Cambados, recently designated European Wine City 2017, has been the venue for the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Wine Technological Platform (PTV), which will take place on May 4th and 5th. An essential event for the wine sector, in which both partners and non-members of the PTV are invited to enjoy a program that will cover technical and recreational activities. All this, in an exceptional scenario, Bodegas MartÃn Códax. On the occasion of the aforementioned meeting, the PTV Technical Commission will present its 2017-2020 Strategic Innovation Agenda, which includes the main priorities and strategic lines of action for R & D & I for the future of the sector.
