28.5.13 Fedejerez Wants to Limit Fino Production to Jerez

Fedejerez has proposed to the Consejo that ageing of Finos and Manzanillas be delimited to their own zones. This thorny issue was postponed three years ago because, as the new Reglamento was being considered, and it was decided to put a three year moratorium on the matter of defining more clearly both types of wine and their differences.

The technical commission concluded at the end of 2011 that Fino and Manzanilla are the same wine, since no technical or organoleptic criteria could distinguish them, save for the ageing zone of Manzanilla being restricted to Sanlucar since the mid sixties when its DO was established.

Now that the three years have passed, Fedejerez wants to delimit the ageing zones for Manzanilla to Sanlucar and for Fino to Jerez and El puerto de Santa Maria. This would stop the Sanlucar bodegas from producing Fino, which they have done for years.

The very inclusion of this proposal in the agenda for the plenary session of the Consejo has provoked an immediate reaction from the Sanluquenos, who consider it an attack on their historical rights at a difficult time. After a meeting held on Thursday by all the Sanlucar interests, the bodegas, cooperatives and growers, a joint statement was released criticising the the attitude of Fedejerez, calling it a veiled threat, behind which was a hidden agenda to manipulate the Consejo. It goes on to say that it is a pity that the matter has been brought up in Europe, and that the Consejo, which should be looking after everyone's interests, has not opposed the measure. The Sanluquenos will appeal to the Junta de Andalucia and local administrations so that they will have the facts of the matter.

Fedejerez does not share this view that historical rights will be lost. They say that before having a distinct DO, Manzanilla was just another wine in the Jerez DO, and could be aged anywhere in the whole region. "It is not about losing any rights, it is about putting things in order and preserving the DO Manzanilla de Sanlucar", explained a Fedejerez spokesman, pointing out that the deadline for inscriptions of wines as Fino or Manzanilla expires on the 28th May. He expressed disappointment that the matter had been made public before the Consejo had debated it.