The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) has communicated  to the autonomous communities concerning the qualifying applications in the areas to be granted authorization for new vineyard plantings in 2023 in Spain, totaling 1,407 hectares. It should be noted that demand has fallen by 16% this year.

The Ministry has ordered and scored the admissible applications submitted by the autonomous communities, and has sent them the resolution so that they can in turn communicate them to the beneficiaries. The area granted has been distributed among six priority groups, which account for 90% of the eligible area in Spain.

Young people and winegrowers with small and medium-sized holdings will receive 100% of the eligible area they applied for, with a maximum of 5 hectares per applicant.

Winegrowers with legal vineyards and no signs of abandonment who have complied with the commitments of the authorization scheme will be granted 62% of the eligible area they applied for.

Of the area granted, 84% corresponds to small and medium-sized winegrowers, 19% of whom are young. Six percent of the authorized area is for young new entrants to the sector.

By autonomous communities, Castilla-La Mancha is the one with the largest area of new planting, 689 hectares, followed by Castilla y León, with 314 hectares, and Cataluña, with 130 hectares.

These concessions are made on a requested area of 3,213 hectares, which is reduced to 2,375 based on the eligibility criteria and after applying the maximum limit of 5 hectares per applicant.

The demand for authorizations in the sector continues its downward trend. The area requested this year has been reduced, as demand has fallen by 16% compared to 2022, which in turn was already down by 17% over the 2021 exercise.

As every year, the beneficiaries will receive from their autonomous communities the notification of the applications granted before August 1.

Planting Authorizations

On January 1, 2016, the new system of vineyard planting authorizations came into force, which replaces the old system of rights, and which allows for continued controlled growth of production potential.

The new system stipulates obtaining an authorization from a quota that is established each year for new planting authorizations and which is distributed among applicants as established in European Union (EU) and national regulations.

On December 28, 2022, the resolution of the General Directorate of Agricultural Productions and Markets was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which established an area limit for the granting of new plantings for 2023 of 0.15% of the area planted with vineyards as of July 31, 2022. This is equivalent to 1,407 hectares, taking into account the recommendation presented by the Spanish Wine Interprofessional Organization.

Source: Agroinformacion.com