MAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
MAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
AJ Linn
The break-up of the Rioja wine region is still a possibility, as neither side appears to be in surrender mode. The regulatory body (the Consejo Regulador) does not allow producers to identify the village or geographical area a particular wine comes from, rather in the same way that the all-knowing French regulators inexplicably banned references to grape varieties on labels for many years. Some of Spain’s best-known winemakers declare they will leave the regulatory body if this rule is not changed. One of what was Rioja’s top bodegas, Artadi, has already left, and its wines, including the excellent Pisón that can cost up to 300 euros, has to label its wines as ‘table wine’.
It is really a pathetic spat since the regulators are clinging to rules made decades ago, and the arty-crafty winemakers have no business sense.
Among all the discussions never has been heard, ‘We need to identify wine areas and subzones on labels because that is what the market demands.’ This is the core of the matter that you will only read here. However good these ace winemakers may be (and the likes of Telmo Rodríguez and Álvaro Palacios are good, and they do make some of Spain’s best wines), they have not the slightest idea about markets and marketing. The ego trip of making ‘village’ and single estate Riojas is what attracts them, but there is no indication of any demand for such wines, and if they do get their way these wines will be priced up in the clouds, which I suspect is what it is all about.
As an ex-wine shipper, I do know that whether the end-buyer is Swedish, American, British or Chinese, what is required is the guarantee that the bottle they open comes from Spain’s best wine area, has been aged in oak, and is priced fairly. Two clichéd but absolutely precise phrases come to mind. Keep it simple, stupid and If it ain’t broke don’t mend it.
AJLINN
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