Under the fluorescent calm of the Consejo Regulador meeting room, the ordinary assembly of the Asociación Rutas del Vino y del Brandy turned into a preview of a celebratory year: César Saldaña presided, José Luis Baños and Fulgencio Meseguer were present, and the mayor, María José García-Pelayo, pledged the Ayuntamiento’s full support for the Rutas del Vino y del Brandy of jerez as it prepares to mark two decades. The plan agreed in that session sets a July 30 gala at the Museos de la Atalaya as the headline moment for a campaign that will run through the year and build on the route’s place as the country’s most visited in 2024, with 425, 000 visitors.
What will the 20th anniversary program include?
The assembly approved a program that is both ceremonial and strategic. The central event is a gala at the Museos de la Atalaya to coincide with the 30 July anniversary. Around that date the association will roll out a year-long promotional campaign that includes a presstrip for specialized journalists, coordinated social media actions, commemorative souvenirs and a planned change of logo and corporate image. Beyond publicity, the agenda sets institutional improvements: the second Estudio de Accesibilidad Turística (following the first in 2024), steps toward digitalizing the association’s internal management platform, and initiatives to raise training and quality standards across the enotourism network.
What does Jerez’s city government say about the anniversary?
María José García-Pelayo, mayor of Jerez, attended the assembly and made the municipality’s position plain: the Ayuntamiento is an “absolute collaborating partner” of the Ruta. She framed the anniversary as an opportunity that dovetails with the city’s gastronomic capital status, calling the coincidence a synergy the city will work to exploit. Her presence at the Consejo Regulador meeting served as a public endorsement of the association’s agenda for both celebration and structural investment in the route’s future.
Who makes up the Ruta del Vino y del Brandy and what is its purpose?
The Asociación Rutas del Vino y del Brandy del Marco de Jerez was founded in 2006 to bring together and coordinate the enotourism offer of the Marco de Jerez. Its membership spans producers and hospitality operators: bodegas, enotecas, hotels, casas rurales, bars and restaurants, tabancos, museums, travel agencies and leisure companies across the territory, working alongside their municipal governments and the Consejos Reguladores for wine and brandy. The association’s stated aim is to use enotourism to contribute to economic, social and cultural development in both urban and rural parts of the Marco.
The practical outcomes of that work are visible in visitor figures: in 2024 the route registered 425, 000 visits, a milestone that the assembly used to justify a more ambitious promotional and organizational push in 2026.
At the assembly the minutes of the previous meeting were approved, and the leadership team—headed by César Saldaña as president, with José Luis Baños as manager and Fulgencio Meseguer as treasurer—laid out the calendar and projects that will carry the anniversary beyond a single night to a year of outreach, training and operational upgrades.
As the association prepares a refreshed visual identity and a slate of activities aimed at national and international projection, the mayoral pledge of support signals municipal willingness to align public resources and visibility with the sector’s private actors. The coming months will test how effectively a gala, new branding and investments in accessibility and digital tools translate into sustained benefits for producers and the communities whose livelihoods are tied to the route.
Back in the Consejo Regulador room, the atmosphere that began as routine business concluded with a clear brief: mark the anniversary, modernize the infrastructure, and use the moment to deepen the Ruta’s footprint. The gala at the Museos de la Atalaya will be a focal point, but the real measure of success will be whether the year-long program strengthens the network that has, over two decades, turned the Marco into an internationally recognized enotourism destination.
