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Staff Reporter THE Mayor of Binissalem, Miquel Nadal, yesterday fired the starting pistol for this year's traditional ”Vermar” (wine) festival, which will celebrate it's 41th anniversary.

The presentation ceremony for the Wine Festival was held at the luxurious casal de Ca's Pellers, where the “vermadors and vermadores” (wine festival representatives) were also present.

The 2005 Binissalem Wine Festival programme will not be much different from the previous years and will follow all the usual traditions.
There will be a competition for the grapes on Sunday 25 September, the float parade on Saturday 24 September, as well as the “fideus des Vermar” (lamb and noodle dish which was traditional served to the grape pickers) on Thursday 22 September.

In addition, there will be the popular grape crushing competition on Sunday 18 September and the messy grape battle on Saturday 17 September.
All the different wine events will be held from 17 until 25 September, and will end with a free wine tasting session on the last Sunday. “The Vermar festival is an oasis in our lives, the most showing way to express the town's openness and party spirit”, said the Mayor of Binissalem.
The manager of the local Binissalem wine cellar, Pep Carretero, was also present at yesterday's ceremony.
He announced that the expectations for the wine harvest for this year are excellent, even though the harvest has coincided with storms, hail and weather phenomenons, such as cold snap.

They are expecting an abundant quantity of wine from the harvest, which will be of a high quality, “even better than last year” Pep Carretero added.
He is also hoping that they will beat the 2 and a half kilos of collected grapes record.