Tempranillo

Conference on Wine and its advertising (El Vino y su Publicidad de la Economía a la Lingüistica, University of Valladolid)

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Just back from a trip to the high plateaus of Valladolid where I participated in a conference on wine marketing at the university there. I spoke the importance of integrating the ditigal marketing of a winery with traditional marketing, all aligned to emphasize brand values and the unique selling proposition. Also speaking, among others, were Pino Pérez of Perlueto on the explosion of social media in wine, German Muñoz of Terrior 34 on the structure of wine marketing and Santiago de Enciso of Wineplus.de on his firm's on-line efforts selling Spanish wines to German consumers. Teresa Ramos of the University gave an informative presentation on using Wikipedia by adding of beneficial links in existing articles (important to note: any link added needs to fit Wikipedia policy).

Bodegas Paramo Arroyo presented their gold medal winning organic wines (that is to say made from organically grown grapes), as did Bodegas Fariña

El Vino y su Publicidad (Wine and its advertising) conference

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:24:00 +0000

I'll be speaking tomorrow on the integration of on-line marketing within the overall framework of winery marketing efforts at a conference organized by the University of Valladolid. Should be interesting.

"Once upon a wine...": using a short story contest to promote wine

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:36:00 +0000

The Spanish wine website Turismodevino.com is organizing a contest for short stories about wines.

Writers (in Spanish) can submit stories of 600 words or less that complete one of three beginnings: a life changing visit to a winery, an escaped lunatic sneaks into a wine tasting competition, or a crime whose principal clue is missing bottle of wine. Winners will receive 380 euros, a stay in a hotel in Ribera del Duero or wines. The deadline for entries is Octuber 1, 2009. More info at: http://www.turismodevino.com/1er-concurso-de-fotografia-de-turismo-de-vino-enoturismo.php

Beyond promoting the site with the contest itself, it will be interesting to see what use is made of the stories they receive; perhaps to generate ideas about themes writers associate with wines?

Follow-up: 2009 grape purchases by Catalan wineries

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Further news on expected grape purchases by the three leading winery groups in Catalunya:

Of the big three, only Codorníu has committed to supporting local grape growers this year by holding prices at 2008 and annoucing intentions to buy 10% this year over last.

Freixenet will be maintain volume, but at a lower price, citing increased worldwide competition and a drop in wine consumption due to the economic crisis.

Torres will hold prices at 2008 levels, but will stick with their previously announced plans to lower purchase volumes: -30 to -50% less for red wine grapes and -15% to -30% for white.

The Catalan Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Support (DAR) has stated that the crisis appears to be having a greater negative effect on still wines than on sparkling Cava

50% drop in 2009 grape purchases forecasted for Catalan wineries

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:30:00 +0000

The economic crisis and excess stock is setting the scene for a drastic drop in grape purchases this year among Catalan wineries. In La Vanguardia (July 15, '09) Ramon Francàs reported that many in the market expect purchases could be down by 50% this year.

According to the article, the Torres winery, leading still wine producer in Catalunya, has sent a letter to its 620 grape suppliers informing them that the winery will be taking in 50% less red grapes and 30% less white grapes. The two other major players in the market, cava giants Freixenet and Codorníu as saying they will hold volumes, but there is no mention yet of price.

Third largest cava producer Juvé & Camps confirms that purchases will be lower, in part due to recent increases in their own vineyard holdings. Gramona, another cava maker, has announced that they too will be buying less.

Growers union representative Mr. Joan Santó (Unió de Pagesos) estimates that small and medium size winery grape purchasing will be down by 50% and that his members are "terrified" at the prospect.

Spanish kosher wines

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:39:00 +0000

Recently the Chicago Tribune had a feature on Spanish kosher wines, looking at three wineries producing them.

The Capçanes cooperative of the Monsant D.O. began producing Flor de Primavera / Paraj Ha'abib in 1995, at the request of the Jewish community in Barcelona. The grapes are grown and the wines are fermented according to the Meshuval requirements under rabinical supervision. According the Spanish wine export promotion board, it is one of the few wines Israel allows to be imported into the country, with the US presently taking in about 40 percent of Capçanes' total exports.

While Flor de Primavera is the single kosher wine among several produced by Capçanes, Elvi Wines with wineries in the Ribera del Júcar, Priorat, La Rioja and other regions, is exclusively devoted to producing kosher wines. Elvi produces kosher white, red, sweet wines and Cava.

Other Spanich kosher wine producers include Ramón Bilbao of La Rioja and La Xarmada in the Penedes D.O.

Stockholm to host 5th annual International Tempranillo Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:58:00 +0000

The international competition for Tempranillo wines will be held May 26 to 29 in Stockholm. This competition is limited to wines made from the Tempranillo variety and organizers expect to have about 500 wines participating.

Most of the participants are Spanish, making this competition an excellent vehicle for international promotion of Spanish winery. However, participation from other countries. Last year's competition medal winning wines included Nepenthe Tempranillo 2005 and Mr. Riggs Yacca Paddock Tempranillo 2006 both from the Adelaide Hills region of Australia and Sanguinhal Aragonêz 2005 from Portugal.

Wineries as investments: the 2009 shake-out

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:13:00 +0000

There was an interesting article in Sunday’s La Vanguardia by Ramon Francàs that looked at difficulties faced by wineries headed by celebrities. The trend of stars getting into the wine business was all the rage prior to the latest financial downturn, but now things are looking rougher.

Francàs’ article took as its prime focus the Mas Perinet winery in Priorat-Montsant regions, headed by Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat. The winery was founded in 1989. The winery has some 300 hectares of vines and has sold some 180,000 bottles since their market launch in 2004. 2008 sales reached 900,000 euros. Not bad, but not enough to compensate for the roughly 20 million euros invested in the project.

According the newspaper where the article appeared, anonymous sources close to Mr. Sarrat said that Mas Perinet has been in touch with wineries such as Vega Sicilia and Valbuena, as well as the González Byass winery group. Talks with the sherry giant Gonzalez Byass had progressed to the point of pricing, at roughly 18 million euros, and looking at ways to keep Mr. Serrat involved in the project. However, the potential buyers changed their minds and a few weeks ago purchased Viñas el Vero of the Somontano D.O.

The La Vanguardia article mentioned that the Torres winery group told them that in the past two months they have been approached by six different wineries with offers to be bought-out.

Given the prestige of the wines, the Priorat D.O.C. has attracted stars such as Gerard Depardieu, Serrat and fellow Catalan Lluis Llach and winery groups such as Codorníu, Freixenet, Albet i Noya, Torres, Pinord, Castell de Peralada, Osborne and Parés Baltà, as well as investors from other sectors. However, according to sources close to the Priorat D.O.C. regulatory council more than a few wineries there are either up for sale, searching for capital or are considering laying off employees and trimming operations.

The article stated that the Buil & Giné winery is experiencing financial difficulties and that the El Molar winery, belonging to the Osborne sherry group may soon be sold. Also looking for financing is the Viñedos de Ithaca winery. The winery produces annually some 50,000 bottles an invoices nearly half a million euros has seen bank credit dry up. However, according to owner Josep Puig, they have yet to find a new backer. “People hear about the current problems and only want near give-away terms.” But he remains confident his winery will make it. “I’m a fourth generation viticulturalist and have never been a professional singer.”

According to the president of the Priorat D.O.C. Salustià Álvarez, many people attracted by the glamour of the wine business have gotten into without really knowing what they were doing. Wineries have never been sector know for quickly generating rapid profits. The norm is that a father will start a winery, his son will finish paying for it and his son will enjoy the benefits.

Valentí Roqueta, owner of Abadal winery in D.O. Pla de Bages puts it plainly: “To make a good wine today, if one has money, is not difficult. What is truly difficult is commercializing it, finding a market for it. That is very slow and complex. It is not something that everyone is cut out for.

What is the value of a D.O. in wine marketing?

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:47:00 +0000

On 30 April I gave a presentation at a conference organized by the Catalan Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Support on the value of Denominations de Origin in wine marketing.

The key points:

The overt importance of a D.O. as such will vary according the consumer target (those with more wine knowledge or familiarity with a specific region will attach more value to the D.O.). For example, a consumer with slight general wine awareness may have heard of Rioja and might possibly value it higher than wines from another region, while a more knowledgeable consumer might attach greater value to a wine from the Rioja Alavesa.

However the covert importance of a D.O. is to:

Create a link to a specific region, which is of growing importance in a increasingly uniform and generic world,
Preserve and give value to local traditional knowledge and practices, which often from the basis of viticultural and winemaking regulations enacted by D.O.s.
Act as a vehicle for collaboration and cooperation among the participants of a specific region.

While some might criticise D.O.s for imposing certain practices that a winery might wish to use, any winery that decides to can opt out of a D.O. However, it is important to note that in countries where the practice of forming D.O.s was not a part of the scene, wineries in certain regions are banding together to form D.O.-like structures, such as the Coonawarra Vignerons Association, or the Napa Valley Vintners.

Above all, D.O.s should be at the service of their member wineries to help them achieve the highest possible quality, singularity and visibility.

Biofach 2009 Organic Wine Awards: 17 Spanish gold medals

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Last month, BioFach 2009, one of the world's leading organic food shows was held in Germany with it customary organic wine venue. Spanish wines made a strong showing:
4 of the 11 "Grand Gold" wines (those scoring 95 to 100) came from Spain:
Piedra Luenga Bio Pedro Ximenez from Bodegas Robles, Garmendia Crianza 2004 –envejecido en barrica- from Bodegas Garmendia, Reserva Martí 2004’ from Albet i Noya and Son Roig 2005 from Can Mayoral.

In all 17 golds were awarded to Spanish organic wines.

Codorníu 2008 results: US sales up 135%

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:57:00 +0000

The purchase by leading cava and wine group Codorníu of US distributor A.V. Brands has shown immediate benefits; group sales, which includes imports to the US and those of Artesa, Codorníu's Napa Valley winery, rose in 2008 to 35.2 million euros, up from 12.8 million in 2007.

Overall, total group sales rose by 10.5% to reach 244.47 million euros. Codorníu's sales in Spain were also up: cava by 6% and still wines by 4.7%.

Sourced from: Expansión Feb 17, by Sergi Saborit.

Raventós i Blanc aims to double export sales

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Article in yesterday's La Vanguardia by Ramon Francàs highlighting the plan by Raventós i Blanc winery to dedicate 40% of their production of wines and cavas to export markets by 2014. Six years ago the percentage was just 5%. Last year it reached 20% of the approximately 800,000 bottles produced yearly. The US sales grew in 2008 by 38&. Total invoicing was at 5 million euros for 2008, up by 2% from '07.

Director General Josep Raventós said that the winery's goal is to create a brand of international prestige based on pioneering wines and cavas of the highest quality and individual personality.

US wine imports 2008 : Spain maintains position, Argentina grows

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:02:00 +0000

In a press release from the recently formed Observatorio Español del Mercado del Vino citing data sourced from the USDA and the US. Dept. of Commerce for year-to-year date November to October, the total value in 2008 imports of wine into the US grew by only 0,5% to US$ 4.7 billion ( o 4,7 mill milliones) following growth of 11.2% over the past seven years. The volume of trade dropped by 3.8% from 2007 to 813 million liters.

Argentina was the only country wine exporting to the US to have the value of trade grow in 2008 as value rose by 29% on 13% growth in volume. A sign that US wine drinkers are moving up-market in Argentinian wines, which as yet have a smaller presence in the market (4th ranked exporter by volume; 8th by value). Australia suffered the largest drop in wine exports to the US (-10.5% in value, -8% in volume).

Spain's wine export grew by 3% in value on 0.4% growth in volume and was the 4th ranking exporter by value at 278 million dollars behind France (US$1.5 billion) , Italy (US$1.3 billion) and Australia (US$713 million). Spain was the 6th ranking exporter by volume. In price per liter, Spain was the second ranked country at US$5.93 per liter, well behind the $12.98/ liter for French wine.

In comparing market share by value and volume, the prestige factor of French wines indicated by the price / liter ratio becomes even clearer: France holds almost 32% of the US market by value on 14% of the volume. Italy has rough parity: 27% value / 29% volume, as does Spain at 5.8% value / 6% volume. However Australia and Argentina are underweighted. Australia's share of market is 17% by value on 23% of volume, while Argentina holds 3.7% of value on 9% of volume.

OEMV USA wine import data 2008.pdf (in spanish)

Exports of D.O. Rias Baixas wines up 70% in two years

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Councilor for Rural Areas of Galicia, Alfredo Suárez Canal recently commented that exports of wines from the D.O. Rías Baixas continued to expand in 2008. In 2007, exports rose 60% and in 2008 they grew by an additional 10%. The five growing regions of Rias Baixas (Val do Salnés, Condado do Tea, O Rosal, Soutomaior and Ribeira do Ulla) produced a combined estimated 70 million euros of wine in 2008.

Cava for the crisis?

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Report in El Pais on Monday 1/12 notes that Cava production remains high despite negative forcast for holiday party spending. The article quotes a source from Cava giant Freixenet as saying production levels for cava are as high as ever and hinting that export sales results are superior to domestic Spanish performance. Despite any as yet undetected changes in consumer spending, the company is looking to nudge up prices to reflect higher operating costs and also drive certain brands in supermarkets.
Cava's other major producer, Codorniu, said any price changes would be insignificant, and that they would be focusing on Raimat sparkling wines (traditional method non-cavas).

Given their higher on average prices, the large growth in recent years of Champagne sales in Spain may be threatened and Cava could possibly win back domestic market share.

Monty Python and Espelt

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:33:00 +0000

Espelt vineyards (Emporda D.O.) has put together a strange of combination of a famous Monty Python song set in their winery. I'm not yet sure if the result is great marketing or absurdity, but it looks like the staff at the winery had fun making it.

Thanks to Gemma for the info.

New Wine Party (de)volving

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:47:00 +0000

I went to last night's Vilaviniteca New Wine Release Party. Its a street fair that, in years past, promised the possibility of finding a magical wine. 2008 was, unfortunately, different. Where in years past the chief concern was to avoid being trampled by the mob in the tangle of old Barcelona streets where the event is held, this year, it was finding something interesting to drink.

There was one wine like those that seemed to define the event in years past, young wines that, despite needing more aging, hinted at greatness by displaying a lot of fruit with tannic edginess. That wine tonight was Murmuron from the Rioja house of Sierra Cantabria. Also, Ostatu's offering was nice as well and as was the wine from Lurberri. It seems the Rioja wineries, at the these three, were more keen on serving up something interesting, than most of the Catalan producers, who were content with serving average wines or half fermented must (note to Castell de Remei: you can do better). The best thing about the event turned out not to be wine, but the samosas of Raji & Co. (amazing spicy mint sauce).

Perhaps the reason for being for this event has changed. Where as in the past, it had been a street fair with a subcurrent of garage inventiveness. Now its just a street fair, with a great atmosphere, but lot of ordinary wine.

ROI for winery blogs: is blogging the future or a distraction?

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:33:00 +0000

Blogging can raise visibility and provide a wealth of data on visitor interests and behaviour. It’s measurable. It is the ultimate weapon for the little guts to reach eyeballs while the reach of other media tanks. See Gary Vaynerchuk. In the US, the growth of direct sale and shipping is provides the ultimate measure of ROI: SALES. See Mathew Mann.

Blogging is a distraction and wineries would be better served by focusing on customer service. At best, it is one more channel for brand building, but, in general, wineries should not blog. See Paul Mabrey’s comments. Blogging that successfully promotes the brand requires dedication over time. The personality of the winery and the intended blogger may not be suited to the platform of blogging. See Jason Haas.

I believe that there’s truth in all the above points of view. What is needed is an understanding of the possibilities and requirements of blogging as a channel and clearly defined goals and metrics.

Interestingly one of the key metrics for ROI of a blog is the frequency of posting in that blog, which depends solely on the blogger for success! See Avinash Kaushik.

If done right, blogging is a method to create positive visibility that costs less and is easier to measure than many other media. Having a blog or commenting in other blogs is direct participation in the conversations involving brand, product, region, and industry; on-line conversations that generate visibility. If all the other aspects of supply chain, merchandising and retailing are sufficiently functional, better visibility should lead to more sales. Or looked at another way, without visibility there can be no sale.

On post frequency, Tempranillo had recently been interrupted due to FTP issues. Thank you for your patience.

No repeat for Freixenet's Scorsese ad

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:25:00 +0000

Last year Cava giant Freixenet made a big splash by hiring Martin Scorsese to direct an ad that garnered a lot of attention via Internet views (over one million hits according to one Spanish economic newpaper, and a random search via YouTube shows some users-published versions having tens of thousands of views). Freixenet had announced that they would be continuing in 2008 with a new director, bandying about such names as Coppola, de Palma, Lynch and Tarantino, but instead the project has been cancelled. They will return to their standard for-the-Spanish-market TV ad, this time featuring Spain's Olympic silver medalist sychronized swimteam.

So, does this mean that the Scorsese ad was not successful, or was too expensive to make? Or maybe it was so successful that it can continue to be a reference point on its own? Or perhaps the TV ad's importance for the Spanish market (newspaper TV guides in Spain have in the past of listed the ad's showing times, just like a sit-com or police drama) was seen by the company as a better investment.

Reserva Cava and the economic crisis: an absurd linkage

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:51:00 +0000

In a move touted by is president as a response to the current economic crisis, the Regulatory Council of the D.O. Cava has announced the standardization of rules for longer aged categories of "Reserva" and "Gran Reserva". In order to qualify for these designations, cava will have to be aged in the bottle following the secondary fermentation for a minimum of 15 months for Reserva (the minimum aging for any cava is 9 months) and 30 months for Gran Reserva and be vintage labeled (show the year of harvest). The longer aging creates more complexity of flavor and aromas and smaller, more persistent bubbles. The overall intent is to answer a perceived quality gap with Champagne which has historically used vintage dating and longer aging for its more prestigious brands.

But are consumers on tighter budgets, fearing the loss of their jobs and houses going to rejoyce over this new Cava regulation? No way. A real response to the crisis would be to, for example, offer a price discount based on the percentage that someone's variable rate mortage has increased. If the Euribor goes up by .25%, then bring your mortage deed to the wineshop and they'll drop the price of Cava X by that much. A move that will in fact lead to a higher priced product is not a response to economic difficulties and saying so is just abusing a buzzword.

D.O. Emporda - the windy wine region

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:02:00 +0000

Last night the D.O. Empordà held a promotional event in Barcelona. The small and hilly Empordà region is tucked into the northeast corner of Spain and is home to about 40 wineries. One of the signature features there are the Tramuntana winds that can get so strong that vine rows must be planted running north to south so as not to be knocked over.

There is one regional heavyweight: Castell Peralada, which owns 150 hectares of vineyards and produces nearly 2 million bottles a year of still wines and cavas, plus a wine spa & hotel, casino and golf course. The majority of wineries in the Empordà are small to micro-wineries run by families and friends.

At last night's event were roughly 24 wineries present. For me personally, the most distinctive wines were:

Celler Roig Parals: The Roig Parals Samsó is made from vines the are between 75 to 125 years old and the result is sublime. The winery was started about 4 years ago and produces only 20,000 bottles per year.

Celler Arché Pagès: Their Bonfill 2004, made from Garnatxa negra and Cabernet is a refined explosion of fruit.

Lavinyeta: a small winery that combines dedication with a sense of fun in their wines Heus, Puntiapart and Llavors.

Vinyes dels Aspres: which has become our own "house wine": Oriol an unfiltered unaged wine and the regal S'Alou (2400 bottles produced in 2004).

Celler Martin Faixó: their Cadac '04 is sheer elegance and the Perafita '05 a diamond in the rough that will shine after further bottle aging.

Oliver Conti: A regional classic that is expanding thier product range. High quality all the way.

These wineries are really doing good work and deserve greater recognition. Seek out their wines (but be sure to share!!).

The Widow Clicquot, story of an amazing entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:28:00 +0000

Being released next week is an interesting book about Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, more famously known as Vueve Clicquot, the widow who created by hardwork, dedication and a good deal of risk-taking one of the most famous brands of Champagne at a time before branding really even existed. To do so, she had to overcome the early death of her husband, several wars and establishment favouritism of Moët.

One key aspect of building of the brand was her dedication to selling in export markets in a time before smooth roads or temperature-controlled warehouses and trucks existed. The gambles taken were immense. The export salesmen took trips that lasted months or years with little guarantee that product could reach the market. Ports were often blockaded, which meant leaving product in hot storage rooms where it could go bad or even explode. Payments took sometimes years to come in.

What does a book on a key player in building of a French wine brand have to do with this blog on the Spanish wine industry? Not much directly. But just as for Vueve Clicquot, the importance of export markets for building brands is crucial for Spanish wineries. Perhaps even more so for the creating of brands for the domestic Spanish market. Not until wines from Priorat started receiving awards and high auction prices in the UK and US were these wines taken seriously in Spain. The voice of the outsider can indeed raise up the underapreciated local player.

The Widow Clicquot was written by Tilar Mazzeo, who had to search for years to find the few surviving personal anecdotes about Vueve Clicquot. The book launch campaign is promoted via this blog: http://widowclicquot.blogspot.com/

Debatdevi Analysing the state of the wine industry in Catalunya.

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Last Thursday, I attended the latest instalment of the Debatsdevi conferences on the wine sector in Catalunya. This session looked at promotional mechanisms for the sector.

Of interesting note from Trini Bofarull of the regional government promotional agency ACC1Ó was the concentration of the wine sector producers in 3 large companies that have combined sales of over 1 billion euros and 634 small to medium sized producers, one-third of which invoice less than 500,000 € per year.

This means that promotional efforts for the Catalan wine sector will be either company / brand focused, or made by regional government. The fact that Catalunya has 11 D.O.s (plus the majority of Cava D.O. production) results in less focused promotion, as compared with regions that represent a single D.O., such as Ribera del Duero, or even La Rioja (one D.O.C. with three sub-regions).

But clearly regional government has a role to play, most likely in acting as an impartial arbiter in cooperative promotional agreements of smaller wineries that bind together. Just how likely could be to happen, or how effective it would be for the companies involved, is not clear. Because, when it comes down to it, the item on the shelf has a brand, a package and a price, which are more meaningful (generally) than the D.O. from which it comes.

So what can be done: Jaques Thebault of the French promotion company SOPEXA suggested that innovative cross-category promotions can be used to capture attention. He referenced campaigns that promoted French cheeses and Spanish wines. This could be used by a specific wine brand with another recognized brand outside of the drinks area, or even outside of the food sector.

Promotion remains a difficult task. The companies with sufficient budgets prefer to promote their products. The effectiveness of general region or D.O. campaigns is debatable, with a major problem being the lack of connection of consumer perception linking the region with brands. Government subsidy of company brand promotion would inherently run the risk of inciting taxpayer rage (why not build new schools instead of promoting “luxury” goods).

Should there be public promotion of regions?

Or is this a waste of money, time and effort?

Vines in Spain: ripening slow and getting ripped up

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:35:00 +0000

In the news in Spain today was a report in the economic journal Expansion on vineyards. The 2008 harvest is looking to be one of the longest ever, with some areas still being harvested. The overall harvest is expected to ease 2% from last year's to 39.7 million hectoliters (1.05 billion gallons).

In Catalunya, the harvest is expected to be down by 10%. For many growers this could be their final harvest. Under the EU vine reduction program, Catalan growers have requested support to uproot 1.970 hectares of vineyards or 7.6 square miles of vines. In total, Spain is leading all other EU nations in requesting aid to tear up 100,000 hectares of vines (386 square miles). This is 22% more than the combined requests of Italy (58,435 ha.) and France (22,700 ha.). Requests from the big three wine grape producing nations have already exceeded the target budgeted by the EU. It remains to be seen if all requests will be accepted by the EU.

D.O. Catalunya blog contest

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Tolliver) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:14:00 +0000

The Denominació de Origen Catalunya is launching a blog contest for the best Catalan wine blog. The contest is open to all non-corporate wine-focused blogs written in either Spanish or Catalan with a top prize of 3000 euros.

Entries can be made until 12 September and the winner will be announced on 23 September at the 28th Presentation of Catalan Wines and Cavas in Barcelona.