Azores Vine and Wine Institute will be structuring initiative to boost the sector, says António Ventura - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Agricultura e do Desenvolvimento Rural

The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, António Ventura, welcomed today the approval of the creation of the Azores Vine and Wine Institute by the Regional Legislative Assembly, a "structuring initiative for the definition, planning and guidance of wine production" in the Region.

“It is the creation of an entity that centralises, coordinates and regulates all the policies concerning oenology in the Azores," said the government official, who praised the "various contributions" from different parties to the final document adopted today.

"This means that we all agree on the creation of the institute and this agreement is a good political support for the future of the wine sector in the Azores," he stressed.

The policies to be implemented by the institute will also be aimed at consolidating the sector in order to create "more jobs and maintain young people in the Region," thus combating depopulation and also contributing to the "diversification" of the Azorean economy.

"The new challenges and obligations that the regional wine production sector currently faces demand a new programmatic attitude and an instrument of action that responds to the production component, as demonstrated by the many hundreds of hectares of rehabilitated vineyards. Moreover, it should equally respond to the processing and marketing component, through the production of new wines and wine products that are on the regional, national and even international markets for their quality, uniqueness and authenticity," stated the Regional Secretary. 

The regional wine sector, therefore, deserves "a modern and adjusted structure, integrating the economic agents and related activities in the areas of production, processing, marketing, and their respective control and supervision."

According to António Ventura, this sector has gained "a certain prominence and has considerably," which "justifies the creation of a structure that congregates all the existing synergies and merges the competencies of several entities, which currently function independently."

He also added: "It is important to optimise the means and resources, eliminating some duplication. It is important to ensure the integration and interconnection of all the operational attitudes that must be implemented, primarily in the search for markets. The Azores Vine and Wine Institute is a guarantee of compliance with the entire legal framework as well as with the quality and authenticity of regional wines and wine products.