Wine Law

from South America, presumably through the migration of birds, he also uses various tropical fruits with which he maintains a monthly production. The wine production is mainly commercialised in Cienfuegos, the capital city of the province of the same name, as a manifestation of an entrepreneurial activity with a direct impact on local development 16 . The production in Cuba of the so-called artisanal wines, mainly from tropical fruits such as guava, pineapple, orange, papaya and mango, has generated an 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 16 “Impulsan en Cuba producción artesanal de vinos”, 2017-10-17, Spanish. xinhuanet.com , available at: http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2017-10/17/c_136687006.htm. 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”.