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Rioja directs coffers on global promotional spend and single village clarity for 2018

Published:  16 January, 2018

The Rioja Control Board is continuing to invest heavily in its marketing activity in 12 key countries, including the UK.

In its 2018 budget, the Rioja D.O.Ca has dedicated 65.2% of a €16.58 million pot to strengthening Rioja’s marketing in 12 primary markets, including the promotion of white wines, which have seen sales increase over the past year.

Other priorities for the year ahead include improving quality control processes, boosting wine tourism in the region and communicating the new village and single vineyard designations which were introduced in 2017 to sit alongside the tiered classifications of crianza, reserva and gran reserva.

Positive growth forecasts in the domestic Spanish market and the US mean the campaign will pay special attention to these countries, with €2.77 and €2.74 million respectively going on promotional spend.

Meanwhile, in ‘mature markets,’ which incorporate the UK, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, Canada and Switzerland, the board aims to drive export value with marketing activity.

Denmark and Holland are the two new markets which will be a focus for 2018, while China and Russia are the key emerging markets.

China and Switzerland in particular have been singled out for more spend following strong sales performances for Rioja over the last year.

The Rioja D.O.Ca, which is represented by Wines from Rioja in the UK, intends on uniting several objectives under a “single, global creative concept” in 2018.

These include the promotion of white wines and also wine tourism, following the board’s recent addition to the Great Wine Capitals network.

This messaging will also aim to bring greater clarity to the new geographical indications which came into effect with the 2017 vintage.

The indications, which were years in the making, were finally ratified in 2017 with the introduction of the Vinos de Pueblo (village-labelled), de Zona (municipality or sub-region) and the Viñedos Singulares (single vineyard) designations, allowing for single vineyard and village names to appear on labels.

According to Javier Galarreta, chief executive of Araex and member of the board for the Rioja Regulating Council, the indications came about as a necessity to reverse the decline in sales of premium Rioja.




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