12,000 BRITISH CONSUMERS ENJOY RIOJA TAPAS FANTASTICAS FESTIVAL IN LONDON

Vitoria, July 17th 2012

Over 12,000 consumers challenged the rain and bad weather to travel to Potters Field Park, next to London's Tower Bridge to enjoy the quality of Rioja wine accompanied by tapas. Among the 40 wineries at Tapas Fantasticas were Altos R, Baigorri, Lar de Paula, Bodegas y Viñedos Labastida and Luis Cañas, all of them integrated in ARAEX. There was also a great variety of tapas, crafted by 10 Spanish restaurants located in London, in the fifth edition of the festival organised by Rioja's Regulatory Body.

In a festive atmosphere with Spanish flavour, the thousands of Londoners who attended Rioja Tapas Fantastic festival on 14 and 15 July not only had the opportunity to taste Rioja wines, but also to broaden their wine knowledge through the ten lectures given by two familiar faces by the British public, such as Olly Smith, taster, comedian and presenter of the BBC, and Susy Atkins, Sunday Telegraph wine columnist. They also staged a new activity, guided tastings with groups of 10 consumers who accompanied them on a tour of five stands, including ARAEX.

Luis Canas Crianza was one of the wines chosen by Olly Smith for this initiative, which was well received by attendees, who ran out of places days before the celebration. Consumers also enjoyed other wines at the Araex table such as Altos R White 2011, Montebuena white 2011, Baigorri Rosado 2011 and Lar de Paula Crianza 2008.

Another new feature was the inclusion in the event of social networks Twitter and Facebook to enable visitors to comment on their experience as well as a new partnership with US consumer portal www.snooth.com, which carried a live streaming broadcast of the festival in order to promote it among the over one million unique visitors it has. Gregory Dal Piaz, Snooth.com editor, interviewed Yolanda Ortiz de Arri, communications manager at Araex and tasted together Altos de Laguardia White and Luis Canas Crianza.

Attendees also enjoyed the live cooking demonstrations from London-based Spanish chef José Pizarro (owner of tapas bar Jose and restaurant Pizarro), who prepared different dishes such as Spanish omelette, garlic prawns, and cod with peas. Londoners also enjoyed live music and Spanish DJs based in London, who offereda selection of flamenco fusion tunes, tropical rhythms and world music.

The awards received in the last three years by Rioja Tapas Fantasticas has turned it into the main promotional activity for wines in Britain. It was voted best campaign to promote wines awarded by the International Wine Challenge, where the DOCa Rioja competed against leading wine regions of the world, as well as the award for best campaign of 2010 aimed at consumers, given by The Drinks Business magazine and the award for best consumer event this year 2012 awarded by the Association of PR & Communication Agencies in the UK.

The aim of this initiative organized by the DOCa Rioja is to use tapas as a vehicle to promote the region's wines and is part of the promotion strategy of Rioja wine in key international markets. Britain is the largest importer of Rioja, with a total of 30.6 million liters in 2011, 33.3% of total exports of Rioja and a cumulative growth in the last two years of 28%. Over 13 million bottles of Reserva wines are sold in the UK every year.