The CAVA DO Disagrees with the Madrid TSJ’s Judgment Regarding the Year 2018

The CAVA D.O. hereby states:

• That it recommended limiting new plantations throughout its territory due to the existence of a surplus of some 6,000 hectares of vineyards, of which 4,000 were sown in the last three years, further aggravating the situation. Limiting this growth, therefore, is vital to the balance and sustainability of the CAVA sector and all the winegrowers and wineries that comprise it.
• This decision was made unanimously by the democratically chosen representatives of the CAVA DO winemakers and producers, from the 159 municipalities constituting it, with the aim of guaranteeing sustainable growth in the mid and long term. The judgment issued by Madrid’s TSJ (Superior Court of Justice) exclusively affects the resolution corresponding to the year 2018, not subsequent ones.
• Like all European Designations of Origin, the DO CAVA has the responsibility and the competences -recognised by national and European legislation- to manage its vineyards in an orderly and balanced way, according to the demand for its products.
• The CAVA DO strives to defend the interests of all its members and, to this end, will take the legal actions it deems opportune.

Additional information:

• This sentence annuls the Ministry Resolution on the limitation of plantations corresponding to the year 2018, which established the authorisation of 57.4Ha of new plantations, 57.4Ha of replantation, and 57.4Ha of the conversion of rights into authorisations. It is an administrative contentious appeal filed by the Extremaduran Regional Government.
• The judgment, not yet final, does not entail the liberalisation of the admission of new hectares. The Madrid Court of Justice annuls the resolution and orders the actions to be reverted, and the procedure to be restarted, in relation to 2018.
• In relation to the year 2019, the Resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture that established the authorisation of the replanting, for a total of 377.06 Ha, was actually the object of an appeal by the Regulatory Council, currently pending judgment.
• Regarding the year 2020, there is also an administrative contentious appeal filed by the Extremaduran Regional Government against Royal Decree 536/2019 which establishes the Ministry of Agriculture’s recognition of the Regulatory Councils’ recommendations and their compliance with the legally established requirements, on the basis of which the recommendations of the CAVA DOP Regulatory Council for the years 2020-2021-2022.