Promotion of local wines in Madrid

The Balearic government will spend 400 million pesetas on promoting local produce this year, with special attention to the wine sector. This was revealed yesterday by Pere Sampol, the deputy chief minister and minister for finance, commerce and industry. He was speaking at the opening of the second International Wine Salon in Madrid. He said that the governnment's presence at the fair demonstrated their firm policy to promote Balearic wines. Sampol explained that the Balearics has two denominacion de origen areas, Binissalem and Pla i Llevant and he pointed out that before the vines were wiped out by phylloxera last century, wine production was one of the major activities in the region. Sampol said that the presence of so many almond trees is due to the phylloxera, as the trees were planted to replace the vines which were destroyed. He added that the government was very much involved in promoting the sector and thanks to tourism, Majorcan wines were exported to such countries as Germany. He also said that the islands would soon have their own Wine Laboratory which would help improve productivity. The Binissalem label includes Santa Maria del Cami, Consell, Binissalem, Santa Eugenia and Sencelles. The Pla i Llevant label covers the area between the two main mountain ranges, the Serra de Tramuntana and the Serra de Llevant. Ten local wine producers are represented at the stand set up by the Balearic government at the fair.