Torres to create a line of luxury winebars

One of the persistent challenges for any winery is to gain more shelfspace or more listings in restaurants, which depends on a number of factors: performance by the distributor, acceptance by the point of sale outlet, brand promotion, prices, strength of the competition, to name a few.

Recently, in a move to go more directly to the luxury consumer, Bodega Miguel Torres annouced plans to open in Barcelona their own winebar and shop that will feature the more than 50 various presentations of wines and brandies that they make in Spain, Chile and the US. The Barcelona winebar will open in July on the upscale retailing street of Passeig de Gracia and is to be created by noted designer Antoni Arola (check the great layout on the project in his site!) and will be their fourth such venue. The first was opened in shopping village of La Roca del Vallès north of Barcelona, followed by a vinoteca in Santiago de Chile and a third location in the Catalan village of Poblet. Following Barcelona, London and Berlin are being considered for expansion.

Codorniu bites the bullet

Codorniu, the family-owned Cava/Wine group that produces roughly one-third of all Cava, has announced losses for the first time in their +125 year history. Their last fiscal year (July 2005 - June 2006) ended in red by 905,000 euros, on sales of 201 million (a drop of 3%, attributed in large part to the Cava boycott). A large factor in these losses has most likely been the cost of internal reorganization.

This fiscal year, the group is forecasting increase in sales of roughly 9% to 218 million euros. Codorniu is planning to invest some 12 million euros this year to: buy 150 hectares of vineyards in Argentina's Uco Valley, further improvements to their Rioja winery, Bodegas Bilbainas, as well as to Artesa, their winery in Napa, and to Raimat, their winery in the Costers de Segre D.O.

Raimat's sparkling wines will return to D.O. Cava clasification, with the recent change in the Cava D.O.'s stance on the use of Pinot Noir to produce white sparklers, which Raimat will continue using.

Codorniu's Managing Director , Xavier Pagés, has played down rumors of additional winery buy-outs which had been triggered by the news that one of the Raventos family members (which owns Codorniu) had stepped down from the board of directors and had bought fellow cava producer Parxet.

Rioja, grape changes, new marketing push, strong sales

D.O.C. Rioja, Spain's oldest and most renowned wine growing region has been making efforts to up-date itself adding new grape varieties and spending more on promotion.

Recently, and for the first time since 1925, the Regulatory Council of Rioja has approved the use of several white wine grape types, three of which are from outside Rioja: Chardonnay, Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc, and three that are native to Rioja: Maturana blanca, Tempranillo blanco and Torrontés. This last variety might be a surprise as Argentina has made the most of this grape, but Rioja looks to be restaking their claim to it. The non-native white grapes can only be introduced as subsitutes for uprooted vines and wine makers will not be allowed under DOC rules to produce wines made from a majority of these grapes nor to prominently list them on the front label, restrictions that not applied to the native varieties. Presently only 9% of Rioja's grape production is in white.

In addition to the new whites, the "minority" native red grapes of Maturana tinta, Maturano or Maturana parda and Monastel have been approved for use.

In marketing, Rioja is pushing on all fronts. In Spain, as a part of a 1.6 million euro plan, the DOC has launched a website called Rioja Pasion, and, in conjuntion with Paramount, they are opening up a casting process in which budding young comics are encouraged to sent short videos about their first experiences with wine. The 10 finalists will have a public run-off competition and the 20 runners up will get a free case of Rioja. Internationally, and capitalizing on the positive name recognition of Rioja, there are more websites: in the USA there is Vibrant Rioja , which is part of a 2 million euro promo plan for the US alone. In the UK, the Rethink Rioja campaign has created a website for the market and has held wine tastings and retailer competitions. In Germany, the campaign has coincided with the release of the mystery novel "A Rioja for the Matador" by Paul Grote. A media promotion to journalists have included sending out the book and a bottle of Rioja.

In terms of sales, Rioja hit a new high in 2006 with total shipments of 261 million liters of wine, an increase of 4.3% over 2005, with exports up by 11%. The UK, which represents the largest export market for Rioja (35% of all export volumes) saw the sale of 27.8 million liters (up by 13.8% and double that in 2000). Germany, the 2nd largest market, consumed 13.1 million liters (up 6.2%), and the US moved up to 3rd place with 6.8 million liters (up by 12.9%), edging out Switzerland and Sweden. In all, these five countries take in 70% of all Rioja exports.

Spanish Organic Wines

At present in Spain some 260 wineries are producing organic wines. At the end of 2006 the town of Estella-Lizarra Hiria in Navarra held the 2nd National Competition of Wines Made from Organically Grown Grapes. 24 wines participated by submitting 64 wines for judging.

The big winner at the event was Bodegas Quaderna Via from D.O. Navarra which captured 2 of 3 Gold Medals awarded, for their 2004 and 2005 Tempranillos, plus a Silver for their Quaderna Via Maceración Carbonica 2005. The other Gold Medal winner was Azpea, also from Navarra.

Other multiple award winners were:
Bodegas Lezuan, of DO Navarra, Silver Medal for Lezaun 2002 Reserva, and Bronze Medals for Crianza 2002 and Crianza 2004,
Bodegas Aroa, DO Navarra, Silver for their Aroa Gorena Reserva and Bronze for Aroa 2005.
Albet i Noya, DO Penedès, were awarded Silver for their Classic Rosado and Bronze for Classic Xarel-lo Blanco.
Finca Campos Góticos, D.O. Ribera del Duero, Bronze Medals for thier Reserva 2002 and Roble Tempranillo.

Spanish wine drinkers: less is more

The Spanish Wine Federation (FEV) has released a study on at-home wine consumption in Spain for 2006 (Dec. 05 through Nov. 06), comparing this to the previous period.

The trends for 2006 show a decrease in table wine consumption of -1.7% to 308 million liters, but increases in: D.O. wines +4.5% to 117 million L and in Cava and sparking wines +4.9% to 28 million L. Overall volume is steady to (+0.4%) at 477 million L among all categories of wine.

The overall value of wine consumed rose by 6.3%: D.O. wines are up 11.2% to 439 million euros (which is 46% of the total domestic expenditure on wine), Cava and sparkling wines are up by 9% to 133 million euros, and table wines are down by -1.1% to 314 million euros.

Meanwhile, wine sales at restaurants have been falling by a reported 9%. This drop has been attributed to Spain's new stricter policies against driving under the influence.