"For any woman or man linked to the Lanzarote countryside and defender of the island's landscape, just thinking that there is a winery that wants to pay what they understand as surplus at the ridiculous price of 50 euro cents per kilo is inexplicable. They intend to return to that past that has caused so much damage to the primary sector." This is the complaint made by the Association of Friends of Cheese and Wine, which considers that this repeats "old ways that we all thought were overcome." Faced with this practice, the association lashes out against the Regulatory Council, which it accuses of maintaining a "complicit silence" and asks for "forceful decisions."
For the association, this practice "deepens the distrust" that "so many people and island institutions have struggled to overcome." "It is not the best way nor does the moment justify it, on the contrary, when more wine is sold and at the best price, acting in this way does not generate stability in the sector, nor is the argument or arguments that support the decision credible," they defend in this agreement that has been elevated to the assembly of the Association of Friends of Wine and Cheese of Lanzarote.
Thus, the agreement decides, in addition to making public its "rejection" of these "negative forms of action", to ask the Wine Regulatory Council to "act as a representative, which it also is, of the primary sector." They thus demand "forceful decisions" in this regard, although they clarify that "logically each winery can do what it deems best."
The Council "is not acting with the required rigor"
"The Regulatory Council is for something more than maintaining a complicit silence, as has been the case since the beginning of the harvest. It could well have worked on setting a minimum price for the 2015 harvest and, if not, a posteriori with the harvest data in hand. This entity is not acting with the rigor that the moment requires and neither does it play its role as a public entity in the terms established in Decree 14/2007, of May 24," they reproach.
"The price has not been agreed, it is acted after the harvest has been picked and the wine made. They have not given the owners of the product the decision to choose any of the existing formulas: throw it away to prevent a market downturn, throw it away to avoid an abuse of power, tread it and even sell it to the highest bidder," they point out in this regard.
For the Association of Friends of Wine and Cheese, the fact that the same product has "two different prices in collection and delivery to the winery and with the same sale price on the market is not understandable." "It is a disloyalty and a way of competing with an advantage towards those other wineries that do it well, respect and value the effort of the winegrower and compete seriously in the market," they maintain.
The association's agreement also advocates creating a working table in which "all interested sectors" that wish to participate in "defense of the primary sector" are present. Its objective is to "avoid" that situations like this "are repeated."
On the other hand, the association also agrees to express to "all the political parties present in the Cabildo of Lanzarote the need for the approval of the Special Plan for La Geria." From that document they demand that it "attend to the existing needs of the winegrower and the wineries with due landscape protection and that it be as soon as possible, so that future harvests can be collected, not as has happened this year and in previous occasions."
