After it was announced that Baja California would be the venue of the 43rd World Congress of Vine and Wine, the wine industry’s most important international event, Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, governor of Baja California, was in charge of giving the inauguration speech at this important event.

During her participation, Marina del Pilar specially thanked the women who have left their mark in this industry such as oenologists Laura Zamora and Lourdes Martínez, chemist Alberta Ceja, winemakers Diana Nava, Yahaira Baro, and Nicole Martain, among others.

"I thank you for putting Baja Californian winemaking, with the hallmark of great women, on the map on an international level,” she said.

Regarding the event, the state governor highlighted the presence of key personalities such as the Secretary of Agriculture of Mexico, Victor Manuel Villalobos, as well as Luigi Moio and Paul Roca, President and Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) respectively As such, the greatest examples of the winemaking industry in the world were present.

Marina del Pilar spoke about the constant growth that Mexican wine has had in the last few years, due to the push, vitality, and love that Baja Californian winemakers have put in their work, which has caused ¾s of the wine produced nationwide to be made here. The governor of Baja California said that they are working to support the industry to deal with the challenges that this sector faces daily.

Marina del Pilar highlighted the coordination with the government of Mexico so that there is enough electricity both for Baja Californian homes and several industries such as the wine industry. In addition, there are also water supply projects to the different valleys that make wine, the constant professionalization of human capital, and an unprecedented effort directed at the ecologic statutes and defense of the agricultural sector of Valle de Guadalupe.

The governor also underscored the value chain of local gastronomy and its Mediterranean cuisine, which have made wine a key ingredient. In that sense, she explained that wine tourism activities attract more than 1 million visitors every year and leave an economic revenue of $3.6 billion pesos.

She also mentioned the 170 grapevine producers, the 260 winemaking projects, and the variety of grapes which include the mission grape, endemic to Baja California. This allows the state to make 75% of the wine nationwide.

It should be noted that one of the first actions by Marina del Pilar as governor was to suspend the state tax on wine sales, a public policy that is meant to exponentially increase the number of visitors to winemaking valleys, especially Valle de Guadalupe.

Lastly, the governor thanked the OIV for making Baja California the venue of the 43rd World Congress of Vine and Wine, which means that more than 1,600 industry specialists showed up; scientists, winemakers, scholars, diplomats, oenologists, and sommeliers from 49 countries are all here. Ambassadors from Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Israel, New Zealand, and France also joined this committee.

At this event, the following people were present: José Enrique Herbert, President of the Mexican Scientific Committee of OIV; Regina Vanderlinde, OIV Vice President; Juan Cortina Gallardo, president of the National Agribusiness Council; Ana Barbara Mungaray, Head of the Productive Development of SDE; Miguel Aguiñiga Rodríguez, Secretary of Tourism of Baja California; Santiago Argüello Campos, Coordinator of the General Agricultural Office at SADER; Armando Ayala Robles, municipal president of Ensenada; Araceli Brown Figueredo, municipal president of Playas de Rosarito, and Paz Austin Quiñones, Director of the Mexican Winemaking Council.

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