Fernando Ezquerro defends the unity and the enormous potential of Spanish wine to overcome the fall in consumption and revitalize the rural environment.
2 minutes
Ezquerro, president of the Interprofessional: The wine sector has everything necessary to get ahead
The president of the Interprofessional Wine of Spain, Fernando Ezquerro, has been the central guest of the new Radio Rioja Forum, held at Espacio Lagares in Logroño. In his speech, he launched a message full of confidence about the situation of the wine sector. “We have everything necessary to move forward: talent, work, innovation, territory…”, he stated, making a call for “unity” as an essential way to face the challenges of the current moment.
“Rowing together is important,” he stressed. Among the most relevant challenges, he pointed out the “generalized fall in consumption on a global scale,” caused above all by the transformation of consumption habits. Faced with this scenario, Ezquerro has insisted on the “enormous potential” of Spanish wine. “We have to tell the heritage that is behind each bottle of wine,” he highlighted, emphasizing the strength of a business fabric extended throughout the country, with more than 4,000 wineries linked to small municipalities.
In his opinion, the roadmap must be oriented towards “selling more and better to guarantee the sustainability of the sector.” At the same time, he has focused on the strategic role of wine tourism as a growth lever: “We have to bring people so they get to know us.” Ezquerro has asserted the economic weight of wine, which contributes 2% of the national GDP, and its essential function to keep the rural environment alive.
Leaning on the data from a study by his organization, he explained that “The towns with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants where there is wine, the population has grown by 20% and where there isn’t, the decrease has been by 10%”. Next, he summarized his thesis with a clear idea: “Where there is wine, there is life”.
The former president of the Regulatory Council of the Qualified Designation of Origin (DOCa) Rioja and of the Federation of Agrarian Cooperatives of La Rioja (Fecoar) has highlighted the uncertainty weighing on the activity, especially among the new generations. “22,000 winegrowers are needed to guarantee generational replacement,” he warned.
Ezquerro has also referred to the millionaire aid promoted by the administrations, such as the green harvest of grapes or the distillation of wine, aimed at adjusting the productive potential to the sales volume. Likewise, he has delved into the most controversial measure that part of the sector demands, the uprooting of vineyards, after the first steps by the European Union to finance this option. “The uprooting of vineyards is a very difficult situation; people must be very desperate if they are thinking about this,” he warned.
The Radio Rioja Forum is promoted by Radio Rioja and has the sponsorship of the Logroño City Council, the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) and Ibercaja. All the content of the meeting is available for listening at www.radiorioja.es.
Dining and Cooking