Cuban companies seek to produce wines for tourism
HAVANA, Apr 19 A fair for entrepreneurs in Havana presented projects for the production of local wines that favor distribution in the tourism sector, a statement from the organizers said today.The note distributed in this capital indicates that the micro, small and medium-sized companies (mipymes) Bati Vinos, Rodrigar Bodega, Bodegas Nory and Vinos Rubio, showed the strength and interest of Cubans to elaborate, produce and market wines.
These signatures appeared at the recent (April 17-19) Entrepreneurs Fair that was held for three days in the halls of the Cuba Pavilion in the capital, organized by the Armonía Local Development Project, the Culture Department of Plaza de la Revolución, the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS), among other institutions.
The initiatives managed to capture the attention of national and foreign visitors given the quality of their products.
Keiler Rodríguez, the owner of Rodrigar Bodega, reported that his business arose in Tres Palma, a small town in Sancti Spíritus (downtown), where his family is originally from, and that in 2015 he moved to the La Lisa municipality of Havana where he established a new technological and commercial infrastructure to create and produce wines.
In 2022, he assured, the Rodrigar brand was born and they work with a wide variety of grapes planted and cultivated in the country under very specific climatic conditions, which once selected are subjected to maceration and fermentation processes under strict quality protocols to then be aged in reused bottles.
Currently, he stated, the production capacity of this small entity allows it to be inserted in distribution and marketing chains throughout the country.
The firm, as an example, contains a product portfolio of three lines of the Tempranillo, Arañón, and Italia Blanca grape varieties, coming from a farm in Güira de Melena (Artemisa) and others planted in the western provinces of Pinar del Río (western ).
These productions point to fine, fruity and gastronomic wines, and with which red, white, rosé and muscatel are obtained, among others, as well as vinegar and dry wine.
That brand is already registered by the Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI) and certified by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (INHEM), and awaits analysis by the wine laboratory of the Ministry of the Food Industry (MINAL).
The president of the La Giraldilla Winemakers Club of Havana also announced that he is in the process of building his heated cellar, which he hopes to finish by May.
For his part, Daniel Batista leads the family business Batis Vinos, who admitted that his winery was born two years ago in the capital, in the Cerro municipality, and takes advantage of the waste bottles with which he produces red wines, Flor de Jamaica, Ginger, Sangria, and vinegar.
Another of the producers is Laima Cabrales, a commercial specialist at Bodegas Nory, an MSME specializing in the artisanal production of wines with exotic tropical fruits grown in Cuba, stated that based in Cienfuegos (central-south) it seeks through its wines to offer a flavor that identifies the nation.
These and other innovations seek to strengthen the added values of island tourism, in this case from artisan wines that take advantage of denominations such as red, rosé, white, sweet, dry and semi-dry wines with fruits such as cherry, bomba fruit, guava, grape and others.
