PRESS RELEASE - MAY 2010
Interprofessional agreement for quality and balance in the D.O. Ca. Rioja
Rioja winemakers and growers prepare for the end of the financial crisis with steps to maintain stability and increase sales.
Vineyard yield containment will benefit quality —a key goal in Rioja’s strategy.
Rioja winemakers and growers are preparing for the end of the financial crisis with steps to maintain stability and increase sales that include limiting production yields and maintaining promotional investments on the main markets, in an effort to maintain stability and increase sales. Those are the main goals of the “quality and balance agreements” reached by the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization with the support of 75% of representatives of the associations of growers and winemakers that comprise the Organization. These steps will help maintain the balance that has enabled the D.O. Calificada Rioja to experience stable, consistent growth in recent years.
Taking into account the current crop and the possibilities offered by the Regulations of the Designation of Origin, vineyard yields were limited to a maximum of 5,850 kg per hectare for red grapes, while maximum yields for white grapes were maintained at 9,000 kg per hectare. Similarly, the grape-to-wine ratio was set at 69 litres for every 100 kilograms of red grapes and 70 litres for white grape varieties. These vineyard yield containment measures will undoubtedly increase the quality of the wines made —a key goal in Rioja’s strategy.
Major investments in promotion for 2010, in line with the previous year, comprise the future commitment undertaken by Rioja winemakers and growers to prepare for the end of the financial crisis. The D.O.Ca. Rioja will invest 10.5 million euros in developing the promotional plans to be carried out in the main Rioja drinking countries: Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Switzerland, Sweden and Mexico. This amount represents 70% of the Control Board’s total budget, which is mainly funded by the wine sector.
The main goal sought by the different promotional campaigns that have been designed for each country is to promote the awareness and quality image of Rioja among consumers in those markets. This will strengthen the position of the Region's wines both on the domestic market, where Rioja leads in quality wine sales with a 40% market share, and on the export markets, one of the key challenges set out in the Rioja Strategic Plan 2005-2020.
The majority of growers and winemakers consider that it is precisely during times of economic difficulty and falling consumption that we have to make even greater efforts to maintain our market shares and position and be in the best possible situation once the crisis has been overcome.
Once again, the Rioja wine sector has demonstrated its future vision and leadership capacity by adopting measures that attempt to reconcile the interests of growers and merchants. This requires sacrifices from both parties within the framework of free competition required by the market. The idea is to overcome the current drop in wine drinking in the best possible way for all stakeholders while attempting to guarantee future revenues for both growers and winemakers. The achievement of this goal is sought by maintaining the current model of the D.O. Ca. Rioja, which has become one of its main strengths.
