Rioja Clamps Down on Basque Wineries

Rioja has stgepped up an aggressive campaign to “protect” itself against impending new Basque wine appellation, leaving many growers aggrieved and crying foul. 

“Undoubtedly, these new rules stem from a sense of animosity and resentment,” says Gonzalo Saenz de Samaniego, enologist and director at Bodegas Ostatu, a producer which has been making wines in the village of Samaniego –which falls within Rioja Alavesa and the Basque Country – in Northern Spain, since the 16th Century.

Saenz de Samaniego, who tends to 36 hectares of old vines split in 50 microplots, says the Rioja wine board’s new rules on vineyards will restrict business freedoms for producers and growers in Rioja Alavesa and are aimed at discouraging them from leaving the Rioja DOCa appellation – a move which he has not ruled out.

The new rules adopted this month mean, for instance, that if Saenz de Samaniego were to use the impending rival Vineyards of Alava appellation, but wanted to return to the Rioja appellation at any given point, he would be prohibited from rejoining it for a year and would be unable to sell his wines as Rioja wines during that period.

Rioja’s wine board claims the year in limbo would provide time for inspections of vineyards to make sure producers and growers comply with its rules.

However, Saenz de Samaniego said there was “clearly some bitterness on part of the Rioja wine board despite the fact there are no concerns over the wine and origins of grapes and the viticultural model proposed by Rioja Alavesa producers”.

“The rules show how the wine board is obsessed with limiting the development of smaller producers who want to increase value through the quality wine production to ensure a better future,” he added.

In a statement the Rioja wine board however said the new ‘exclusivity’ rules concerning vineyards, would provide “guarantees over the exclusivity of production from vineyards registered in the Rioja DOCa”. Grapes from Rioja DOCa vineyards will be exclusively used for wines authorized by the Rioja DOCa. “In this way, the sector shows that it wants to protect its market and reinforce guarantees [of quality control] provided by the Rioja DOCa,” it said.

The new rules prevent producers from using vineyards for wine production in both appellations unless they are separately registered in each appellation.

Curtailing freedom

However, it is understood that the new rules will restrict the ability of growers to make choices over where they sell grapes, each harvest.

“The new rules contravene freedom of enterprise rules in Spanish and European law. Growers will face economic challenges because of the restrictive exclusivity rules,” said Ines Baigorri, manager at ABRA, the Association of Rioja Alavesa Wine Producers. ABRA is planning to contest the new rules and lobby the Spanish authorities with amendments.

The rules clearly show how the Rioja wine board is stepping up its campaign to protect itself against the prospect of a rival appellation operating in Rioja Alavesa, a wine sub-region of the Basque Country, where wine has been made since the 9th Century.

Rioja Alavesa is part of the autonomous Basque Country in Spain, which has legislative and tax-raising powers, however its wine rules are determined by the Rioja DOCa wine body, which is controlled by the powerful Group Rioja, association of big wine companies.

The Basque government in Spain is poised, it is understood, to temporarily authorize the Vineyards of Alava appellation that would allow producers to use it in Spain, ahead of final authorization from Brussels.

But the Rioja wine board has vowed to take further legal action if the appellation wins approval.

Rioja’s wine board director, Jose Luis de La Puente, told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser that the Rioja wine board would fight the development of the Vineyards of Alava on all fronts.

Back in November, the Rioja wine board launched an unprecedented legal case against the autonomous Basque government in Spain at the Basque Country’s Hight Court of Justice, in a bid to paralyze the authorization process of the Vineyards of Alava appellation.

The Basque government however processed the application made by ABRA, before sending it to the EU for authorization, earlier this year.

The Basque government was obliged to process the application of a private company [ABRA|, but some of its politicians have publicly said that they would prefer to establish a regulatory council in Rioja Alavesa, within the existing Rioja DOCa appellation rather than establishing a breakaway appellation for the Basque Country, thus reflecting divisions in the region over the issue.

But together with other geographical, climate and human factors, Baigorri, explained that Vineyards of Alava appellation aims to distinguish itself from the Rioja DOCa, by not including Rioja’s Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva categories, in which wines are classified according to their age, rather than according to quality parameters.

Baigorri said that ABRA had sought to establish an economical and environmentally sustainable business model for growers and smaller producers in Rioja Alavesa, which would help provide them an alternative to the production volumes of large industrial estates which often sell Rioja wines including Reserva wines at low prices.

“Several smaller Rioja Alavesa producers have closed each year in recent years. Average land prices are about €100.000 per hectare, but grape prices are low and production costs are soaring,” Baigorri said.

However, Inigo Torres, MD of the powerful Grupo Rioja association of big Rioja producers which controls the Rioja wine board said wine production in a new appellation operating next to the existing Rioja appellation would create confusion for consumers. 

The Grupo Rioja group of big producers which generates about 75 percent of the business in Rioja Alavesa and voted in favor of the new rules, said they would protect and strengthen Rioja wine production controls and ensure traceability of production.

It is understood that the Spanish government would back the new Rioja wine board rules according to Spanish press reports.

Speaking to Wine-searcher, Torres played down the production and geographical differences between Rioja Alavesa and its sister sub-regions, Rioja Alta, and Rioja Oriental.

However, De Saenz Samaniego said the Rioja wine board had sent a “clear and dictatorial message in which it understands that the Rioja appellation is uniform and monolithic”.

Meanwhile wine company La Rioja Alta, a leading Rioja wine producer, which owns a winery in Rioja Alavesa, said it had ruled out leaving the Rioja DOCa appellation.  However, it has called for Rioja’s wine authorities to recognize the distinctive characteristics of Rioja Alavesa.

This year, La Rioja Alta announced that it had bought artisanal vineyards in Rioja Alavesa to improve the quality of its top wines.

“Our position is that there are indeed differences in Rioja Alavesa compared to other Rioja sub-regions – in terms of wine styles, viticulture, (traditional pruning techniques), mentality and innovation,” Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner, a director at La Rioja Alta told Wine-Searcher.

“[Official] Recognition of these differences would make Rioja more competitive. International wine drinkers need to know the differences between the Rioja wine sub-regions of Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta, and Rioja Oriental.”