Wine Law

428 WINE LAW activity grouped in the National Coordination of Artisan Winegrowers that, since 1983, organises competitions and exhibitions of the winegrowers of several provinces. In 1991, the Board of Directors of the National Group of Winegrowers was formed, with the territories of Pinar del Río, La Habana, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila and Holguín as its founders 17 . Precisely to emphasise the value of our own traditions, the national hero José Martí y Pérez used the figure of the artisan wines in Cuba when he expressed: “The wine, made of banana; and if it comes out sour, it is our wine”. 3. IMPORT AND MARKETING OF WINES IN CUBA: THE INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL OF HAVANA Cuba, despite not being a country whose agriculture has a notable tradition in wine-growing, has opted, as we have seen, for the introduction of varieties and the search for local wine production and increasing imports and marketing of foreign wines. The tradition of wine consumption was shown, from the beginning of the 20 th century, in the foundation of La Casa del Vino (The House of Wine), in the Jesús María neighbourhood, in Old Havana. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a growing import of wines from socialist countries (Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania), with the Spanish wines increasing their presence on the Cuban market from the 1990s onwards 18 . At the beginning of this century, wines from Italy, France, Germany, Chile, Argentina, Australia and South Africa have started to compete in the Cuban market 19 . The existence of a wine culture in Cuba is evidenced, among other events, by the celebration of the International Wine Festival ( Fiesta Internacional del Vino ). This important Festival, which is hosted by the Hotel Nacional de Cuba (an emblematic and historical institution at the service of the hotel industry), celebrated its 20 th edition in October 2019. This last edition was held with the 17 Vid ., NODA ALONSO, Sheila, “Vinos cubanos, placer tropical”, in Granma , 2-3-2016. According to this author, “Cuban wines differ from foreign wines in terms of brix degrees, which determine the sugar and alcohol residues, and are produced on a larger scale in sweet or semi-sweet wines, because these are the ones that have the best acceptance. Ours have high brix degrees but low alcohol content, whereas in cold countries they are generally made very dry, with a high volume of alcohol”. 18 To name the most significant, there are wines such as Freixenet, Sardá, Vega de la Reina, Marqués de Cáceres, Palacio de Arganza, Gandía, Federico Paternina, Herederos del Marqués de Riscal, Giró Ribot, Cune, Conde de Valdemar, Campo Viejo, Las Campanas, Muga, Marqués de Villamagna, Pazo Pondal, Valduero, Viña Alcorta, Bodegas Bilbaínas, Faustino Martínez, Callejo, Marco Real, Vega Sicilia, Los Curros, Pesquera, Pinord and Potros. 19 Vid ., GARCÍA VALDÉS, René, “El vino español y su primacía histórica en Cuba (II parte)”, in Excelencias Gourmet , 3-7-2018.