ICA, Peru (AP) – In the space where for decades it bottled pisco, the grape brandy off the Pacific coast of South America, Rosa Grados has stored thousands of gallons that it did sell because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“You wait a year to get to distillation time and when you’re at the door, everything is cut off,” said Grados, whose “Cholo Matas” logo is one of the highest identified in Peru and in 2008 presented as a gift. 21 chairs of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum held in Lima.
Like Grados, more than 500 fish farmers in Peru saw their sales fall for more than 50% of the pandemic and the grape fields of thousands of farmers were ruined by overdue crops due to mandatory closures of more than a hundred days imposed to curb the virus. .
“Some may simply not harvest anything and those who simply harvest were so low that they didn’t cover their expenses,” Grades, 58, told an Associated Press team as they walked among the dry vines on the south coast. Peru.
Grapes have been planted in the Ica Valley since the 16th century, developing vineyards in a domain south of Lima to the Pacific coast. The region enjoys sun all year round and, according to farmers, produces grapes with a high sugar content and low acidity. the key mix for a pisco.
But that’s priceless for thousands of small farmers in the valley like Juan Tasayco, who says 2020 is the “chaotic” and dubious peak year of his life, he couldn’t harvest the 11 hectares (27 acres). of grapes he had planted on time and lost all his $20,000 investment.
“The grapes have stayed in the field, the bunches are glued to the plant,” said Tasayco, 60, waving mosquitoes in his face. The farmer said he had witnessed how some farmers were also promoting the grape at 14 cents consistent with the kilo. a very low price, while others made pisco to waste the whole year of harvest by rot.
Peru, one of the first Latin American countries to suspend their economic life, end their borders and start a months blockade The blow to the pisco and the liquor industry in general is harder than that of other industries because the government still imposes strict restrictions on bars, talks in restaurants, hotels and nightlife in general.
The pisco has been embedding a fierce dispute between Peru and Chile over its origin for years. Dozens of Pisco countries such as Peruvian and Chilean.
According to Chile’s Office of International Economic Relations, Chilean pisco exports fell by 21% between January and June this year, until the first part of 2019.
In Peru, Rafael Zacnich, director of economic studies at the Foreign Trade Society, said pisco exports fell 55% in the first part of the year, with January-June 2019, or 400,000 liters less exported this year.
Pisco producers, who stock them, expect to sell them when social occasions are reactivated. It’s a complicated scenario because the pisco is a commodity but it’s similar to recreation and partying, Zacnich said.
In los Angeles Cave La Caravedo, which is more than 3 centuries old, pisco manufacturer Johnny Schuler says the pandemic “has had a brutal effect” on sales. 2019.
Schuler noted that orders from the United States, Italy and Spain affected by the pandemic ceased to arrive in the first part of the year.
“2020 was even though it was all going to be our magical year, but it wasn’t,” he said, drinking a glass of his pisco made from Quebranta grapes, a variety he grows exclusively.
Caravedo produces pre-mixed, ready-to-serve drinks in six types that also come with the well-known Pisco Sour, a local cocktail of pisco and lemon juice.
A truth happens at the close of Hacienda Tacama, whose winery dates back to 1540 and produces wines and piscos commented on in the writing of nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
Director José Olaechea said the quarantine months “were difficult” but were not ruled out in a context of emerging national unemployment.
The company now produces a less expensive logo called Mulita.
“It’s a pisco who’s there to suffer distress and solve problems,” Olaechea said.