The Sanluquenos are asking Fedejerez to withdraw their
proposal that Fino can no longer be produced in Sanlucar, while Fedejerez are
actively looking for support for it.
The Fedejerez argument is that Fino cannot be produced in two
distinct DO’s – Manzanilla de Sanlucar and Jerez -Xerez -Sherry. There are
those, and not only in Sanlucar, who see political interests- and not just
commercial - behind the affair, linked to the schism when the principal
Sanlucar bodegas left Fedejerez three years ago. These bodegas formed their own
group, Vinateros de Sanlucar, and their argument is that if the technical commission
found that there was no technical or organoleptical means of distinguishing the
two wines, why change anything?
Many consider the timing of the Fedejerez proposal
inopportune, as they haven’t had time to mull over the matter. Thus, Aecovi and
Asevi Asaja, the growers associations, who have 5 votes out of 20 at the
Consejo, feel unable to vote, and hope that Fedejerez will withdraw the
proposal and consult more widely, especially outside the Consejo.
Meanwhile, after its round of consultations, Fedejerez is to convene before the Consejo debate to see
what support it has and decide whether to press ahead with the proposal. It
would not be the first decision they had made on the hoof.
In principle, they have 8 votes, 6 from the bodega sector
and 2 from the grower sector, but there will be abstentions for sure, and that
could let the proposal through. If so, the bodegas would be in breach of a long
tradition of trying to find consensus in hotly debated matters - and the
modification of the Reglamento is just that. If the proposal is passed, it will
inevitably open up a breach between Sanlucar and Jerez, Manzanilla and Fino:
the two brothers who don’t get along.
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