21.10.14 Ruta del Mosto; Sherry Lecture Cadiz; Consejo Budget

The tourism department of El Puerto de Santa María Council has organised the II Ruta del Mosto as part of the wine tourism programme. The event will take place from the 3^rd till the 30^th November. Participating bars will offer a glass of mosto (newly made wine) and a tapa for 1.50 euros. The timing of this event is designed to avoid the seasonality of the local tourism.

 On Wenesday 29^th October the Atheneum in Cádiz city will play host to a conference hosted by Jose Luis Jimenez entitled “El Jerez, un Vino con Etiqueta”. It will begin at 7.00pm and is in the Calle Ancha, 20.

Jose Luis is a Jerezano whose heart lies in Sherry and film, and the connection between the two. He is president of the Jerez Club de Cine and has been involved in all manner of related projects including the new film “El Misterio del Palo Cortado”. He is also a regular contributor to Más Jerez.

The Consejo Regulador is sharing its promotional plans with the growers. Consejo executives held an informative meeting on Friday with them to explain the generic promotion plans for the key export markets. Aa a result of the agreement on the small levy per kilo of grapes or litre of must for this campaign, the Consejo expects to raise 250,000-300,000 euros for promotional use. The levy is calculated against the annual harvest declaration.

The bulk of the promotional budget will come from the bodegas, whose contribution has increased 25% to 1.25 euros per litre of wine sold, which translates into about 500,000 euros based on current sales. However the main objective is to somehow double the budget by obtaining public funding. This appears to be complicated by the lateness of the stage in the campaign, by cuts and the finance still available from public administrations especially the autonomous regions, which have reduced their budgets in this area considerably.

At Friday’s meeting, which was also attended by representatives of Fedejerez (the bodegas’ association), the president of the growers’ association explained that the purpose of the meeting was to get growers more involved in the use of their contribution and in how it is spent. He noted that it is much better used now than in the past when many growers were complaining.