The Professional Association of
Artisan Bodegas of Sanlúcar has reacted to the recent High Court ruling on the
prohibition of Bag in Box saying that Fedejerez is continuing with its policy
of ruining the Marco de Jerez. The bodegueros of Sanlúcar point out that the ruling
runs against that of the Junta de Andalucía which is the titular body of
the Consejo Regulador of the denominations of origin Sherry and Manzanilla.
While they will comply -reluctantly - with the
ruling, the Association considers that its contents show “a completely
erroneous, insensitive and unjust interpretation of the facts as related to the regulations and also
show total insensibility to a matter of great economic importance to a very significant
part of the trade since the appeal against the preventive measure imposed two
years ago and which infringed basic principles of justice has not even yet been
resolved”.
The Association is therefore urging
the Junta and others to appeal for an annulment of the ruling to reclaim the “justice
which has been erroneously denied”. Furthermore the Association considers it a
fact that ”Fedejerez, whose members are bodegas outside the DO Manzanilla, is
trying to manage their sales to the benefit of their own competing DO”. It complains
about the words of the Fedejerez spokesman on learning of the Court´s ruling
that “ in some way it will contribute to calming relations between the DOs which
comprise the Consejo Regulador”. On this point the Association is urging “generational
change of the people who have been running the institutions and are bringing
the area to ruin”.
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| Association press conference (fot:diariodejerez) |
The Sanluqueños indicate that
they will continue working “ceaselessly” to unite the different bodegas which
comprise the DO Manzanilla “ to ensure their own decisión-making capacity at
the Consejo and not have to submit to decisions made by bodegas of another DO
with opposing interests” which is what happens now as they “only have one voice
out of twenty”.
The Association will take up the
matter of BIB again at the Consejo as “we are entirely convinced that it is the
container of the future and will help to improve things in a región where the price
of grapes is the lowest in Spain and sales are in freefall due to the
complacency of those who continue to run the institutions”. To achieve this
they are holding meetings with other operators in the area to gain the
necessary majority.
“A small group of big firms
maintain control of the Consejo where Señor (Evaristo) Babé
is lord and master” is the Association´s charge against the president of
Fedejerez. While the Consejo consists of representatives from all sides of the
trade, “curiously, and despite having the same weight, Manzanilla only has one
voice of the twenty established in the regulations to face a full majority from
DO Sherry”. The Sanluqueños feel that “times will change in the area”, not only
in terms of regulation but also in terms of generations, capable of adapting to
the markets “for a return to a period of growth on solid foundations which
would put our prestigious wine back in the position it deserves not just in
terms of quality but also of price”.
The Association has been working
for some months now to protect the interests of the Manzanilla producers having
fostered the creation of the Mesa de la Manzanilla and the Fundación Manzanilla
– Sanlúcar
Barrameda.
It is perhaps worth pointing out that sales of wine in BIB in Spain grew by 50.7% last year according to official figures.
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