La Casa Paquet, headquarters of the Tourism Department of Gijón City Council, hosted the presentation of the 15th edition of the International Hall of Gala Ciders (SISGA), the largest international cider event in Asturias and one of the most important in Europe, which will take place in Gijón from September 25 to 28.
As a novelty, this year a voucher for a tasting at the SISGA will be given with the ticket to AGROPEC.
The event opened with the speech of Daniel Martínez, director of Visita Gijón/Xixón, a collaborating entity in the event. Martínez highlighted the importance of cider as an essential part of the Asturian way of life and as an identity emblem: “Cider is an essential part of our way of living, of relating to one another; it is one of the great emblems of Asturias and we want to export it to the world. SISGA is a wonderful opportunity for that. This event is also pure tourism.” In this vein, he underlined the role of cider as a touristic, cultural, and heritage driver for Gijón and Asturias, pointing to SISGA’s function as an international showcase that contributes to consolidating the region as a reference destination for gastronomic, cultural, and business tourism.
Next to speak was Álvaro Ordás, representing the Chamber of Commerce, who explained that, as a business-oriented organization, their support is twofold: on the one hand, linking the event to the national calendar of farming and agriculture through Agropec, and on the other, in its role as president of the CiderCities network. Ordás also announced that with the purchase of an Agropec ticket at the box office, a voucher will be handed out for the tasting of one of the ciders participating in the Hall.
On behalf of Fundación Caja Rural de Gijón, Antonio Migoya emphasized the long history of SISGA and recalled the concept of “reverse promotion,” which consists of bringing investors, authorities, and foreign companies to discover what is being done in Asturias. In this way, it becomes a showcase not only of cider, but also of Asturian gastronomy and culture in general, so that visitors can become ambassadors of what is ours around the world.
Later, Manuel M. Busto, president of the international jury that will evaluate the 207 products presented at this edition, coming from 68 cider makers across 18 countries, took the floor. In his speech, he stressed the contribution of the event to the recognition of cider culture as universal human heritage, explaining that “instead of limiting itself to showing videos and photographs, SISGA brings representatives from all those countries so that they can experience Asturian cider culture firsthand.” He also highlighted the vocation for continuity of this event, in contrast to other sporadic attempts that failed to consolidate, and called for greater attention from the media, pointing out that SISGA is not always given the representative value it deserves for Asturias’ food industry, which goes far beyond cider.
The last to speak was Marcos Abel Fernández Marqués, president of Fundación Asturies XXI, who reminded the audience that “we are a small country just two hours from London” and explained SISGA’s main goals. The first is to win spaces for cider where traditional cider has not yet reached, highlighting the quality of the different elaborations and pairing them with high-quality gastronomic products. The second is to underline cider’s international character and the importance of interrelation between producing regions at cultural, gastronomic, and business levels, thus taking advantage of the possibilities for economic development and innovation that cider offers, in which Asturias has much to contribute. Fernández Marqués also emphasized the values SISGA brings: authenticity, cultural roots, quality, innovation from tradition, sociability, sustainability, and the diversity of cider’s thousands of expressions—all of this through knowledge sharing among the different participating countries.
As for the SISGA Awards, he reminded that they are among the most prestigious internationally thanks to the peculiar composition of the jury, which includes all competing cider makers. This homogenizes quality criteria and provides great credibility. He stressed that SISGA is not a conventional congress, but a model that is already being exported, as demonstrated by the recent celebration of SISGA Japan in Tokyo, organized by the Foundation in collaboration with the event’s ambassadors in Japan, which brought together more than 4,000 attendees.
The main event for the general public will take place on Saturday, September 27, at the Congress Hall of the Asturias International Trade Fair (FIDMA), with an exhibition of products that will allow, for just ten euros, the tasting of all the ciders presented and the chance to talk directly with cider makers from all over the world. The program will close with the Gala Brunch at Llagar Finca El Duque, which will host the presentation of the SISGA Awards, internationally renowned and guaranteed fair thanks to the international jury system made up of the participating producers themselves.
