It's a matter of taste..

The event took was organised by Catavinor and took place at the Palacio de Congresos, giving producers, professionals and consumers the opportunity to talk to each other, strike business deals and have a general chit-chat about the wine trade for 20 euros a head.

Spanish wines have a classification that’s based on the Denominación de Origen, or DO the whether or not Majorca should have one DO was was the subject of this year’s debate at FEVI.

It was hosted by Journalist, Concha Rosillo under the heading DO Mallorca? and 8 of Majorca’s vineyards took part.

“It is viable to have a single DO, but i'm not convinced,” said Winemaker, Toni Gelabert. “There are differences between the wines from the Island that must be respected."

"The name 'Majorca' is very good, but everyone must defend his identity,” said Esperanza Nadal, of Vins Nadal, from DO Binissalem adding, "there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of a single DO, but no progress.”

"We are many wineries and each one has his own opinion, although I think the majority are in favour of a single DO,” remarked Andreu Majoral from Petits Cellers, “the most important thing is to look at what unites us."

Marina Vera, Manager of Vi de la Terra de Mallorca, said that "one of the reasons for the creation of the Vi de la Terra de Mallorca Regulatory Council was to uphold the name of Mallorca. There could be technical problems with a DO Mallorca, like what types of wines and grapes to include."

Miquel Gelabert, winemaker and Founder of Vitivin, pointed out that sometimes customers have no idea where Majorca actually is.

"Sometimes it is necessary to explain where Spain is, as happened to me with a distributor from South Korea, so now I don’t even mention Majorca."

Ramon Servalls, Director of Macià Batle disagreed, claiming people buy the wine because it comes from the island.

"Majorca produces about 5 million litres of wine a year, which is the same amount as a single average winery in La Rioja. There are more than a hundred winemakers here producing wine for foreigners and what sells is the name of Majorca."

The debate also touched on other aspects such as growing vineyards on the Island merely for landscaping purposes.

Blind tasting

During a blind tasting at the event, 21 sommeliers were asked to identify three white wines and three red wines from Tenerife, Australia and Argentine.

Sebastián Longo, from Zaranda came out top, Jorge Olongo came second and third place went to Julianna González, who also won the Best Balearic Siller competition last week.

The aim of FEVI is to strengthen ties between producers, professionals and consumers and by all accounts, the 6th edition of the event was a massive hit.