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Promising Rioja proposals could draw a line between industrial and artisanal production, say producers

Published:  11 October, 2016

Two leading Rioja producers based in Alava have welcomed fresh details of plans tabled by the breakaway Vineyards of Alava appellation proposal including a move to distinguish itself by discarding Rioja's ageing categories of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.

Two leading Rioja producers based in Alava have welcomed fresh details of plans tabled by the breakaway Vineyards of Alava appellation proposal including a move to distinguish itself by discarding Rioja's ageing categories of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.

"It [Vineyards of Alava] could be fantastic, if it is about improving quality from the bottom up, but not if it's a about creating a brand," producer, Telmo Rodriguez said.

"A red line now has to be drawn between industrial and artisanal producers in Rioja. The Rioja Wine Board has a problem: it is controlled by ten industrial groups," Rodriguez said. "What we need in Spain is to create a big movement to protect wines to protect the patrimony of vineyards," he said.

A representative of Artadi, a leading Rioja Alavesa producer, which left the Rioja appellation last year, said the Vineyards of Alava appellation initiative was "promising" but would wait and see how it develops.

"The deep issue in Alava is that growers are under threat; they are forced to sell to big industrial groups. They are dwindling in numbers with only about 200 growers left in Alava," the Artadi representative said.

The producers spoke to Harpers at the Berry Bros & Rudd Emergence of Spain tasting in London, after fresh details of the rules of Vineyards of Alava emerged showing the new appellation would focus on quality and terroir with yield limits per hectare set according to the age of vineyards, rather than the existing ageing criteria of the Rioja appellation.

Despite his enthusiasm for the initiative, Rodriguez stopped short of saying he would join the Vineyards of Alava appellation in the future.

"I want to remain independent and to concentrate his efforts making high quality wine," he said.

Ines Baigorri, director of ABRA, the association of Rioja Alavesa producers, had earlier revealed fresh details of the plans of the Vineyards of Alava appellation.

"Vineyards of Alava will look for quality based on terroir, the vineyard and how it is managed; (mechanical harvesting will be prohibited) and under a criteria which favours the environment and sustainability," she said.

"Quality will not be based on ageing. There will be no categories of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva," Baigorri said.

Baigorri said ABRA would push ahead with the initiative despite reports of new proposals under consideration by the Rioja appellation's wine board to give producers rights over labelling.

The Vineyards of Alava appellation plan was submitted to the Basque government in Spain in the summer.

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