Minister Amaia Barredo: “Rioja Alavesa stands out today for the talent that its young generations will project in the wine sector towards the future”

• The Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government, participates in the Rioja Alavesa Harvest Festival together with Ramiro González, Mara Garcia, José María Elvira and the group “ETS-En Tol Sarmiento”
• The United Kingdom is positioned as the first market for Rioja Alavesa with cheaper wine; Canada and Japan possible new large markets; better prices in Switzerland, the United States and Japan
• The Basque Government is considering developing new initiatives to support the sector in order to overcome the current sales status.

Moreda, Araba, Basque Country, 2024 09 15

Mrs. Amaia Barredo, Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government, considers that “Rioja Alavesa stands out for the talent that its young generations will project in the wine sector towards the future”. In his opinion, “the wine sector in Rioja Alavesa has great strengths and opportunities as it has wines of enormous quality, internationally recognised by Parker and Atkins, among others, and a great deal of promotion and positioning work is carried out”.

Barredo has participated in the XXIX Rioja Alavesa Harvest Festival, in Moreda (Araba) together with the deputy minister Raúl Pérez Iratxeta, the general foral deputy of Araba, Ramiro González, the president of the Cuadrilla de Rioja Alavesa, José María Elvira, the mayor Mara García, the Basque Minister for Tourism Javier Hurtado, Iñigo Etxezarreta, Rubén Campinun, Fernando Ezquerro, Rosa García, Itxaso Compañón, Irma Basterra  and other agricultural and wine production representatives of the region.

Marketing

According to Minister Amaia Barredo, “the producing areas, including Rioja Alavesa, are experiencing a complicated global situation that has been going on for several years now, in which various factors - such as inflation, political tensions, transport and supply crises, rising cost of living - have caused a slowdown in international wine trade after the post-pandemic record”.

Thus, the year-on-year data (in 12 months) analysed in March 2024 show a drop in world wine trade of 5.4% in volume and 6.4% in value, at an average price that is beginning to fall as inflation slows down. To resolve this imbalance between supply and demand, Minister Barredo has pointed out that “the sector has made several significant adjustments which, with the support of public administrations, are expected to significantly reduce the imbalance in this year as well, with an estimated production potential of 254 million litres of wine covered in 2024, compared to 377 million in 2023”.

Mrs Amaia Barredo highlights that “throughout 2024 sales have a downward trend, with positive peaks such as the month of April, but which are summarized in a decrease of 2.18% in the first five months of 2024 and 4.45% in the interannual rate. For this reason, we must continue to maintain and promote measures that allow us to reverse this situation to achieve the necessary profitability ratios, both in the field and in the winery”.

United Kingdom and Japan

In terms of markets, the United Kingdom grew by 18.3% in volume and is consolidating its position as the leading market for bottled Rioja Alavesa PDO wine, with 2.43 million litres, almost 1 million more than the United States. The large increase in the volume exported to the United Kingdom has occurred at an average price 13.7% lower, down to €4.36/litre, while in the USA the price remains at an average price of €8.06/litre.

Switzerland remains the third market for bottled Basque PDO wine despite falling by around 20% in the first four months of 2024, at a stable average price of €8.40/litre. Germany, the fourth market, also loses share, at a price 3.5% higher, down to €7.94/litre. Canada also increased its price by 3.5% (€7.97/l.), although in this case sales grew at a great rate both in value (+18.6%) and in volume (+14.6%).

On the other hand, the Basque Country increased its exports of bottled PDO wine to Japan at an exceptional rate, which is still far from the top positions, but is gaining relevance and where sales shot up by around 80%, registering the greatest growth in percentage terms among those analysed, at an average price 1.2% higher, up to €7.26/l.

New initiatives under study

Minister Barredo is aware of the difficulties that the sector is going through, “especially small wineries and cooperatives. While waiting for the roadmap that the sector designs and submits to the administration at the end of the year, the Basque Government is working and developing new tools of punctual support to overcome these difficulties, such as the development of commercial measures in markets of interest or the activation of financial support tools for the sector, among others.”

In any case, the Minister of Agriculture has insisted on the necessary concurrence of public-private collaboration: “we have many challenges that we must take on by strengthening public-private collaboration, because we will not achieve our objectives of strengthening the sector and the region if we row separately. For now, we are working very hard within the Regulatory Council of the DOCa Rioja”

“This whole situation represents an enormous challenge, there is a lot of work to do. We must all achieve the establishment of our wines in the Basque market, making the fact of ordering “a Rioja Alavesa wine” in our hospitality industry go from being an anecdote to an obvious thing. We must maintain the price positioning of our wines in international markets, working on those in which we already have a good position. We must reach new customers and build loyalty. There is a long way to go and work ahead and this is perfectly feasible” estimates Mrs Amaia Barredo.

Talent, training, and quality

“The wine sector in Rioja Alavesa has strengths and opportunities. It has wines of enormous quality recognised by many experts and there is Parker: with 2 wines with 100 points, 2 with 99, 5 with 98 and 13 with 97; or Tim Atkins: 2 with 100, 2 with 99, 5 with 98, and 9 with 97” says Barredo.

The Minister believes that “Rioja Alavesa is a region that is brimming with young talent with new generations that are bringing brilliance and audacity and that are based on what was developed by the previous ones. Now they are going out into the world without complexes and sticking their chests out. We must support this young talent. This youth will support and launch the sector in the future, and they must feel that we are with them in everything we can”.

Mrs Amaia Barredo believes that “the current projects promoted by institutions such as EDA will help these young talents from Araba to project themselves in other latitudes and, in turn, can help position us not only as one of the best wine regions in Europe and around the world but also as a benchmark in the knowledge associated with this activity.”