The brand «Lagoa Capital dos Vinhos do Algarve», registered about three months ago by the municipality of Lagoa, has already led to a break in relations by the Algarve Wine Commission and is causing serious problems in the relationship with the municipalities and producers of neighboring counties.
The new brand was presented by Câmara de Lagoa at the closing gala of the event "Cidade do Vinho 2016", but the Algarve Wine Commission (CVA) has already announced, in a statement, that it will complain about this "unilateral proclamation of the title", which, in the opinion of this body, it conflicts with the brand «Vinhos do Algarve», registered in 2010 at the INPI – National Institute of Industrial Property.
Carlos Gracias, president of the CVA, also said in statements to Sul Informação, that the «proclamation» of Lagoa «is a complete disrespect of the Council of Lagoa in relation to all other Algarve wine-producing councils and, above all, in relation to other producers, by intending to transmit abroad the false image that there is a dominion of the municipality of Lagoa on wine production in the Algarve region».
And in fact there is not, neither in terms of the area occupied by vineyards in production, nor in terms of the number of producers, nor even in terms of quality attested, for example, by wine awards, since the awards in national competitions and international, have been distributed among producers throughout the Algarve region.
In Silves, for example, where there are almost twice as many wine producers in Lagoa, Mayor Rosa Palma says she is “very surprised” with this registration of the brand. «It has often been said, even among mayors, but also among producers, that councils should not be individualized, but rather that the entire territory of the Algarve should be valued as a wine producer. There was an agreement that one should earn a name through the brand of Vinhos do Algarve and not from one municipality to the detriment of the other», explained the mayor, contacted by our newspaper.
The edil silvse considers, therefore, that the attitude of Lagoa, by unilaterally registering the brand as «capital of the wines of the Algarve» is «strange» and even «abusive». Moreover, because, guarantees Rosa Palma, contrary to what she says was the process of registering the trademark «Silves Capital da Laranja», «which was discussed with all the entities involved», in this case «Lagoa moved forward alone and without discussing anything with nobody". «I wasn't expecting this attitude from Lagoa», confesses the mayor of Silves.
Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, the other neighboring municipality, prefers to ironize: «in this order of ideas, there would be justification for registering many other wine capitals in the Algarve, starting with Portimão». But, he stresses, in addition to Portimão and Lagoa, there are «other Algarve municipalities with excellent wines, such as Tavira, or Albufeira or Lagos».
Therefore, the Portimonense mayor finds “perfect nonsense” the registration of the trademark by Lagoa.
But it is not only the neighboring municipalities that contest this unilateral declaration of Lagoa as the «capital of the Algarve Wines». Rui Virgínia, owner of the award-winning wines at Quinta do Barranco Longo, in the municipality of Silves, considers that the registration of the brand by the municipality of Lagos is «a parochialism of the past, a simple search for cheap protagonism».
«What we have to think about and defend is the Algarve as a wine region. These small farms, these backward mentalities do not help the region at all,” adds Rui Virgínia.
According to the producer in the Algoz area, «for our wines to be accepted in the market, we have to talk about Algarve wines. Let's not invent capital, that's perfect nonsense».
«There is an entity in the Algarve, which is the Wine Commission, which represents all the producers in the region and which is even paid by us. CVA has already registered the brand Vinhos do Algarve. It is not now Chamber A or B or C that will arm itself as capital, as owner of wine. If anyone has worked, in all these years, to rebuild the Algarve's wines, to reaffirm their quality, it was the producers, all the producers throughout the Algarve. And those already have someone to represent them, which is the CVA», said the producer of Quinta do Barranco Longo.
For his part, the Lagoon councilor Luís Encarnação, father of the idea of registering the brand «Lagoa Capital dos Vinhos do Algarve», he considers that this is a «sterile controversy».
For, defends the mayor, the brand is «a territorial marketing strategy, which has to do with the long tradition of Lagoa linked to wine and with the work of this municipal executive for three years».
Luís Encarnação insists that the registration of the brand «was not done against anyone, but rather in favor of the wine producers of Lagoa and Algarve, with whom we have been working in partnership», in an effort that «is to continue».
For the councilor of Lagoa, the controversy surrounding the issue is nothing more than “minutia”. "This will be resolved by the INPI Arbitration Court", he admits. «If it is understood that we cannot use the name “Vinhos do Algarve”, we do not use it, patience, we will use another name».
In addition to what the INPI Arbitration Court will decide, the truth is that the issue has already led to a break in relations between the CVA, which is even headquartered in Lagoa, and the City Council of that city.
Carlos Garcias states that, «through institutional dialogue and even personally, we tried to dissuade the executive of the Municipality of Lagoa from the abusive use of our brand “Vinhos do Algarve”, but the answer did not satisfy our intentions, which are legitimate and based in the legal precepts'.
Therefore, after deliberation by its General Council, the CVA filed a complaint with the INPI, asking for the disapproval of the logo's registration. It was also decided to «cancel all partnerships and events scheduled with the Municipality of Lagoa», namely the Algarve Wine Contest, which took place yesterday for the first time outside the municipality of Lagoa, in a hotel on the coast of Albufeira.
But councilor Luís Encarnação is not very concerned, because he believes that the Lagoa Council did everything within the law. «When we presented the brand at the closing gala of Cidade do Vinho 2016 [in mid-February], it had already been registered for about two months», he revealed to Sul Informação.
The producer Rui Virgínia counters: «attitudes like these do not benefit any producer in the Algarve. What we need is to defend and promote the Algarve Wines as a whole, it is not one of these pastimes».
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