4.3.16 Manzanilla Rebels Seek Public Support

The Association of Artisan Bodegas of Sanlúcar held their BIB information day on Wednesday at the Castillo de Santiago in Sanlúcar. Free Manzanilla meant there was always going to be a good turnout which would inevitably be rather partisan; the small Sanlúcar producers versus the might of the big ones, David and Goliath. The mayor of Sanlúcar was present along with representatives of the makers of the BIB, Conotainer.

BIB v Bottle in Sanlucar (foto:diariojerez)

The rebels find themselves in a temporary limbo as a final judgement on BIB legality is awaited while the Junta amends the regulation as proposed and approved by a plenary at the Consejo to forbid it and considers legalising it for horeca. The majority consider that BIB harms the image of Sherry, and that its supposedly superior convenience and hygienic properties are irrelevant, while the Junta feels that the current rules are open to confusion and is thus busy rewriting them. Until the new regulation is published, the rebels feel they are free to use BIB legally and have asked the Consejo for DO labels which the latter has refused to do until the matter is concluded.

21.1.16 New Rules for Consejos Reguladores

On Tuesday the junta de Andalucía finally approved a new decree giving the green light to the calling of elections in the 29 Consejos Reguladores of Andalucía. These are normally held every four years, but despite an eighteen month delay this will continue. Also each Consejo will have to elect a president and propose their name to the Junta. The elections in Jerez will probably take place in May or June.

The last elections in Bodega San Gines (foto:diariojerez)

There are some changes in the rules, one of the principal ones being that bodegas which also own vineyard can no longer represent themselves as growers and bodegas at the Consejo, as they have done hitherto. From now on they can only represent their principal activity, a measure by which the Junta hopes to achieve more equality of representation between the different sectors of the trade and minority interests. On behalf of the bodegas Fedejerez had lobbied unsuccessfully against this.

16.1.15 Junta Declares BIB Legal for Horeca

Having asked the Junta for clarification on the BIB affair, the Consejo has been informed that Manzanilla in BIB destined for horeca (hotel, restaurant, bar, catering) fulfils the requirements laid down in the regulations covering producers of Manzanilla de Sanlúcar, though the text needs to be altered. According to the current regulations containers for DO wines shall be made from glass or other materials approved by the Consejo which does not affect the quality of the product and with capacities of between 10cl and 150cl, leaving producers to decide on other capacities so long as they are clearly indicated on the label. However the regulations impose no restriction on types of materials and are thus not sufficiently precise, meaning that as things stand BIB is legal so long as it is clearly indicated that the wine is for horeca and not for sale to the public. The Junta feels that the Consejo should propose any changes in the legislation which it feels necessary so producers can be sure about the rules they must obey, but also feels that it is responsible for interpretation of the rules until such time as the text is revised.

7.1.16 Junta Allows BIB for Horeca

The technical services of the Junta de Andalucía’s Agriculture department have given a boost to the Manzanilla rebels by issuing a statement which, at least up to a point, supports their use of BIB. It says it is legal so long as the wine is destined for horeca (the hotel, restaurant, bar and catering trade) which is regarded as “direct” consumption, as the wine is used to make sauces etc. and not for sale by the glass (at least officially). The Consejo Regulador has asked for clarification on the matter, which hinges on whether sale to horeca is or is not direct consumption. It has the power to dictate which containers are used for the wines it represents, and currently it does not allow anything other than glass which must carry its official seals. The Consejo feels undermined by the Junta, which is not really helping to achieve a definitive solution to the problem.

29.11.15 BIB: History is Repeating Itself

The High Court of Andalucía supported the Consejo’s case in April 2006 when it rejected an appeal by a Sanlúcar bodega against a fine imposed by the Consejo, with the approval of the Junta’s agriculture department, for selling Manzanilla in BIB. Armed with this legal precedent, the Consejo and Fedejerez are wondering how it is that the Junta, which supported the fine at the time, does not nip the current BIB affair in the bud.

Back in 2000 Gáspar Florido, later taken over by Pedro Romero, released a Manzanilla in BIB which was the first one ever. This rang alarm bells at the Consejo who acted without delay in initiatiating proceedings, opening Pandora’s Box in the process. The result was a fine of €28,086.50 plus €1,083.50 being the value of the just over 100 BIBs. After an inspection of the premises the Consejo confiscated another 1,560 BIBs which were ready to be sold so that they could be disqualified according to the court ruling.

Tabancos must use garrafas (foto:Jose Contreras, diariodejerez)

This High Court ruling shows that the prosecution was the result of four inspections carried out by the Consejo which found a quantity of wine in five litre BIBs labelled “Manzanilla en Rama.” The BIBs had stuck to them two strips with the Consejo Seal, one a guarantee of origin and the other stating the capacity of four litres, the latter being exclusively issued for glass containers. It seems that there were one litre strips added to balance up the stocks. The bodega’s appeal was dismissed.

The High Court’s case was that the rules of the Consejo Regulador are “special rules” which prevail over more general rules. The sentence stated: “Although national and EU regulations permit the use of BIB, the DO Sherry rules state that wine can only be sold by member bodegas in containers which do not prejudice its quality or prestige and are are approved by the Consejo Regulador.  Furthermore, the court pointed out that the bodega in question, which had a seat at the Consejo, knew that BIBs had been prohibited by a majority at a plenary meeting after another bodega had brought up the matter.  And at a plenary on 20 July 2000 BIBs were banned unanimously. Florido “knew this perfectly well .”

Last September the Consejo again rejected by majority a proposal by a Manzanilla representative to authorise BIBs. Despite this rejection, the Manzanilleros – with the exceptions of La Guita, Barbadillo and Delgado Zuleta – announced their decision to market Manzanilla in the forbidden container, claiming to have the support of the agriculture department of the Junta. The latter, which has the power to pronounce on matters such as this, has signally failed to do so. The Consejo therefore issued a statement denouncing the fact that the Manzanilleros seem to be behaving with impunity because of the lack of action to resolve the matter by the Junta.

21.11.15 Junta Appeals for Dialogue

Junta vice president Manuel Jiménez Barrios who recently met the BIB rebels has appealed for dialogue and says that the confrontation will damage the image of the DO. He is not keen to take sides but the Junta will help bring the warring parties together round a table and assist with any dialogue. Only this way will the problem be solved and the achievements of the last 80 years be preserved.

The meeting in Sanlucar (foto:sanlucarbarrameda.tv)

While the Junta’s agriculture department is the higher authority, just proposing dialogue is not enough, and the BIB rebels feel they have some sort of legal support for launching Manzanilla in BIB. Fedejerez and the Consejo have asked for clarification of what they consider illegal. The rebels’ interpretation of the reglamento is that it is legal to sell Manzanilla in BIB to the hotel and catering trade, but Fedejerez disagrees and hasn’t the slightest intention of sitting down to discuss what it considers a breach of the rules of the DO.

26.10.15 Junta Declares Bag in Box Illegal

Bodegas in Sanlúcar which continue to sell de-classified Manzanilla in BIB will be prosecuted by the Junta, which has noted that the sale of these products without a Denominación de Origen (DO) is illegal and has already been denounced by Fedejerez and the Consejo Regulador. At the last full meeting of the Consejo BIB was again refused authorisation. Now the Junta’s technical and legal people from the Agriculture Department have taken samples from the bodegas reported to it. They say there is clear infringement of the rules in terms of labelling and offenders could be fined between 3,000 and 50,000 euros depending on the seriousness of the offence.

BIBs for sale in a bar (foto:diariodejerez)

The Junta has already informed offenders that proceedings have begun and they have 15 days to answer the allegations and a period of 10 months for a resolution. Two types of offence have been detected: those which infringe the DO by the use of protected terms such as “fina” or “en rama” or protected imagery such as the harvest or rows of barrels which allude to Sherry, and those which infringe law 2/2011 with respect to the quality of agro-alimentary goods.

In the latter case the rules state that biologically aged wines with an alcoholic strength of 15% can only be sold under the umbrella of the authorised DOs of Sherry, Montilla and Condado de Huelva. By choosing to de-classify their wine to sell it in BIB producers are not covered by the DO and lose the right to sell it as wine. At the last Consejo meeting Fedejerez lamented the time it was taking for the Junta to act on its complaints against the Manzanilla producers.

The Perfect Match of Vineyards and Tourism

An interesting article in today’s La Voz Digital by Jesús A Cañas

The countryside of Andalucía is bathed in blood and sweat. Toil is expended and mixed with every clod of soil in this land peppered with vineyards, like the tanned faces of the day workers who live and breathe for its prosperity and that of the rest of the province. They have always bound their existence to the preservation of a trade which struggles not to languish, not to die, besieged by ferocious competition and the policy of grubbing up vines. Meanwhile this landscape of thousands of vineyards, of green slopes as far as the eye can see is witnessing a viticultural apocalypse which everybody wants to stop, but nobody knows how. Yet it is here that the latest effort of the public administration is being drawn up. At the Environment and Planning department of the Junta in Cádiz they understand the complicated reality the trade is going through in the province, and are looking at the only possible way to get the bodegas to diversify what they offer without abandoning their roots: vineyard tourism.

The administration has produced a meticulous study of the existing vineyards in the Sherry zone and the rest of the province, analysing ways to develop this new form of tourism which is still to materialise in Cádiz. At the very start, the document contains one figure which invites serious reflection: the vineyards of the province have shrunk from 32,000 hectares ten years ago to only 7,000 now.

Rafael Martín Ballesteros is chief of Rural Development and author of a study which he rates as complex and includes many aspects of wine tourism. Federico Fernández, from the Environment department explains the motivation for the study “To identify needs, proposals and avenues of assistance, we are acting to invigorate the process.” The key to this proposal is to match up the private and the public, as Fernández says in his study. “The idea is to provide the fabric and each bodega can make a suit” he explains.

Classic vineyard with vineyard house/winery (casa de viña) foto:lavozdigital

This fabric is no more and no less than a diagnosis in which a series of strong points are established and which the bodegas can exploit. It rests on two pillars: the vineyard landscape and the vineyard houses. The idea is that the bodegas take a step further and don’t just settle with offering tourists a visit to a bodega, but take them to the vineyard and show them the winemaking process, following the grape from vineyard to wine. Martín has identified ideal vineyard areas in Jerez, Sanlúcar, Trebujena, El Puerto, Rota, Chiclana and Puerto Real. Of these the ones that stand out are those around Jerez because of the number of them and their buildings which create interesting landscapes with their slopes of albariza soil and the vineyard houses at the crest of the slope. “They are very unusual in that in many cases the vineyard houses survive. This is where they used to make the wine."

Nowadays many are just used to store vineyard tools, where they are still standing. Some feature very interesting vernacular architecture from the late XIX or early XX centuries, with valuable timberwork. There are some 20-30 still standing, but many are abandoned and have suffered deterioration and theft. The study has also revealed that many vineyards themselves are suffering neglect and will disappear making it easier for new housing construction on the land. Now “the vineyards are close to a lot of housing, and a singular landscape has been lost” says Martín.

This is the case in places like Chiclana where the wine trade was always associated with small proprietors who worked their own vineyards. But the grubbing-up of vines led many to sell parcels of their land for construction of housing, much of it illegal.

Martín hopes to protect the vineyard landscapes which are facing such threats. “Our countryside is the patrimony of us all.” And he points out his weapon which is the Plan for the Governance of the Land as a useful tool for protection. It is a tool which the private sector can use and which can be modified so that they can be included.

The whole purpose of this study is to attract the tourist into the country. It also raises the need to improve rural roads to make this possible. Tourism is evolving in a province where not all visitors are looking for sun, sea and sand. “It is about a business which doesn’t yet exist, one which could offer more to attract tourists inland. These tourists are looking for something different, and this would offer a complementary experience to that of buildings and nature to foreign moneyed tourists who love culture and are not necessarily seasonal visitors.”

To make all this possible it will be necessary for the bodegas to take the lead. To that end the administration is agreeing every step with them, organising meetings, conferences and lectures to encourage them to seek the necessary changes and investment. The Junta promises in exchange to provide any necessary assistance or grants using tools like the Rural Development Plan and the Integrated Land Initiative. All this will be needed to change a situation where there is “no programme, no corporate image and no offer”, according to Fernández. Now the ball is in the court of the bodegas. The bottle of the finest product of Cádiz is open, it is now up to them whether to pour a glass and toast this perfect match.

8.10.14 Jerez Benefits Most from Vineyard Grants

The Junta de Andalucia has approved two plans for vineyard restructuring which will benefit 108 growers on 968 hectares of vineyard with an investment of almost 15 million euros. This was explained today in a visit to the vineyards by the Junta’s minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Environment, Federico Fernandez.

Both plans, which have a duration of five years 2014-2018, are aimed at energising the development of the vitivinicultural sector and adapting production to market demand, thus improving the productive structure of the vineyards.

The minister in the vineyard (foto:reporteros jerez)

The minister visited two vineyards in Jerez, Sobajanera and Candelaro, which each received 10,000 euro grants in the previous plan to check progress, and pointed out that the previous plan awarded 6 million euros allowing the restructuring of 550 hectares. This money comes from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEAGA), and over 90% of it has gone to Jerez.