Rioja a double-edged sword for premium brands

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 06 June, 2016

As one of the primary regions in the world's third largest wine producing country, the Rioja label carries a huge amount of weight in the on and off-trade worldwide - and especially in the UK, where its easy-to-drink reputation has made it a stalwart on British supermarkets shelves.

But how helpful is the label for a premium brand like La Rioja Alta S.A. when the average bottle of Rioja wine in a UK supermarket goes for £5.90?

Although it shares its name with the region, president Guillermo de Aranzabal says the DO can be a double-edged sword.

"Everyone knows Rioja - everyone knows what to expect," he said. "But it can make things difficult. For example, Crianza has to aged be for a certain amount of time in barrel and bottle, but this doesn't mean that the quality of the juice is any good. It can be low quality wine but if you age it long enough it can be released as a Gran Reserva just because of it's been through the aging process. There should be more controls."

The size of the area - which spans 120 miles from north to south - seems to be at the heart of the problem, and has led one of the biggest producers in Rioja, Artadi, to recently de-classify itself from the DO.

While de Aranzabal says La Rioja Alta S.A. won't be following suit any time soon, their strategy has always been and will continue to focus on brand over the dogmatic aging process that dominates traditional Rioja winemaking.

He added: "We are lucky in that our wines have an identity of their own. We try to sell our 890 or 904, not 'Gran Reserva from Rioja'. We don't piggyback on Rioja; Rioja piggybacks on us."

La Rioja Alta, S.A., is known for its 890 and 904 wines - key years in the founding of the original winery which was built by five families.

It is distributed by Armit Wines in the UK.

For the full interview with Guillermo de Aranzabal, check out this month's print edition of Harpers or click here.

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