full annual report 2014

2014 ANNUAL REPORT CONTROL BOARD OF THE RIOJA DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN

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S U M M A R Y

Presentation....................................................................................................... 3

The Control Board an organisation at the service of the Wine Region:..................... 4

- Control Board composition and functions.......................................................... 5

- Plenary and commitees ..................................................................................6

- Organisational chart .................................................................................... 10

- Plenary decisions ........................................................................................ 14

The Board´s financial resources .......................................................................... 24

Activity Reports by department:

- Administrative services ................................................................................ 28

- Legal department ........................................................................................ 29

- Technical service .................................................................................... 32

- Inspection activities ................................................................................ 34

- I.T. section .............................................................................................. 38

- Communication and Promotion ..................................................................... 40

Sales balance:

- Rioja sales grow by five million bottles in 2014 hitting

new 281 million litre record .........................................................................62

- Nielsen Report. Rioja strengthens its position

on the quality wine market with a higher-value offer .........................................64

2014 Vintage rated Good with more quantity and better quality than last year....... 66

Statistics. Rioja in figures:

- Development of vitiviniculture in the D.O.Ca. Rioja ...................................... 68

- Production and vinification............................................................................ 70

- Viticulture in figures ..................................................................................... 72

- Winery statistics ......................................................................................... 76

- Sales statistics............................................................................................ 78

PUBLISHED BY:CONTROL BOARD OF THE RIOJA DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN

Edited by: Javier Pascual CorralTranslated by: TRINOR

Printed by: Gráficas Quintana, S.L.Legal Registry No: LR-160-1993

ISBN: 84-85375-83-X

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The final balance of 2014 in the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja is very positive as a whole. It is first of all a great achievement and a cause for satisfaction that the future law on designations of origin, which is now in the final phase of parliamentary procedures, will preserve the fundamental aspects of the current model of Rioja, particularly with regard to our control system. It is a goal that our industry had been pursuing for many years, because we are convinced that our model has been very effective and has allowed us to achieve the leading position we occupy.

I should also express my satisfaction at the general atmosphere of understanding and dialogue among industry organisations during this mandate. There is no doubt that it allows us to move forward in the continuous improvement of our model, consolidate our achievements and innovate in all aspects which result in progress for the wine region’s producers and vendors as a whole. The current attitude of the members of the Interprofessional Organisation and the Control Board is a good example of responsibility and commitment to the future of our industry, one of whose main objectives is to continue to grow in market value on the basis of our traditional quality policy and to continue driving promotion.

In this regard, we increased our investment efforts in the Rioja wine institutional promotion campaign in 2014, focusing mainly on eight countries. Based on an integrated marketing strategy, the campaign featured some new aspects, such as an increased presence of wine tourism in our messages and more active Internet and social media communications, which are now in full swing, having become an essential tool for promotion. In fact, the Control Board is spearheading activities in social media, according to the communication consultants Castro Galiana. All this has helped to consolidate the reputation of the D.O.Ca. Rioja, which today is one of the world’s leading wine regions in brand awareness and in translating it into purchases, as shown by a study carried out in the main wine consuming countries by the consulting firm Wine Intelligence.

The 2014 harvest was better than the previous one both in quantity and in quality, allowing us to meet current sales needs. The growing cycle was very favourable in all aspects, creating great expectations of a huge harvest which only the adverse weather conditions at harvest time reduced in part. Of particular note is the excellent quality of the white and rosé wines of this vintage.

With regard to market evolution in 2014, the general feeling is very positive. After a rise in sales the previous year, it can be considered a success, as the fundamental goal was and still is to improve the value positioning. The rise in grape prices had a positive effect by shifting demand towards products with more added value, such as the Crianzas.

Luis Alberto Lecea Blanco, Control Board President

PRESENTATION

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THE CONTROL BOARD AN ORGANISATION AT THE SERVICE OF THE WINE REGION

History

Rioja wines are covered by the oldest Designation of Origin in Spain. The modern Rioja was born in the late 19th century, establishing a clear link between the name of a product and the place where it was made. This sparked growing concerns among Rioja’s grape growers and winemakers who sought to firmly guarantee the quality and authenticity of the wines produced in the region while protecting its identity against “usurpers and counterfeiters.”

These concerns where finally addressed with the official recognition of the Rioja Designation of Origin on 6 June 1925, authorising the use of the word ‘RIOJA’ as a collective brand to be put on the labels, as well as a special bottle seal. The legal basis for this measure had its precedent in the 1902 Industrial Property Act, which mentioned “indications of provenance” in Title IX.

The Royal Decree of 22 October 1926 created the first supervisory body of the Rioja Designation of Origin, a Control Board whose mandate was to demarcate the Rioja production area, control the issue of guarantee seals and recommend legal measures to be taken against “usurpers and counterfeiters of the Rioja brand.” The regulations were approved in February 1928.

The enactment of the Wine Statute on 8 September 1932 provided a new legal framework for the development of designations of origin, most of which were already defined and included in this text. A year later, a Ministerial Order authorised the creation of the second Rioja Control Board with a composition, presidency, functions, etc. in accordance with the guidelines that the Statute.

In December 1944, representatives of grower-winemakers and exporters met in an Assembly promoted by the Trade Union Organisation and requested the establishment of the third Control Board, which was proclaimed by Ministerial Order on 24 January 1945. Closely linked to the Haro Oenological Station, whose director was also the Control Board president, the new Board approved its Regulations two

years later, although its activities were quite limited until the mid 1950s.

The enactment of Law 25/70 of 2 December 1970, which approved the Statute on Vines, Wines and Alcohols, and the subsequent creation of a new Control Board marked the beginning of a process to improve control systems which eventually stood among the most rigorous and effective in the world.

The renewal of the Control Board in May 1982 —in accordance with the regulations set out in Decree 2004/79, adjusted to the new democratic principles proclaimed by the Constitution— was the beginning a new stage which saw the gradual introduction of a perfectly articulated plan of both qualitative and quantitative controls applicable to both production and sales: vineyard and winery registers, control of growing practices, maximum production yields, an approval process for new wines, monitoring of ageing times and vintages, etc.

At the same time, unlike previous stages, the Control Board increased its budget allocation, infrastructure and staff to meet the demands posed by the strict fulfilment of its purpose, namely defending the designation, controlling and fostering quality and providing generic promotion of Rioja. All this was funded with the contributions of grape growers and wine producers whose representatives have prompted self-controlling regulations that are considerably stricter than those of the European Union.

The culmination of this process came in April 1991 with the awarding of the ‘Calificada’ attribute to the Rioja Designation of Origin and the enactment of a new regulations. This was a recognition of the unceasing efforts by the Rioja wine sector to achieve even higher quality goals and a solid reputation.

In 2004, a new stage began. ORDER APA/795/2004 of 25 March 2004 of the Ministry of Agriculture amended articles 39, 40, 41 and 42 of the Regulations of the D.O.Ca.Rioja in order to make it possible “to constitute the Control Board with the same level of representation and accountability

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as the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization, in accordance with the eighth additional provision of the Spanish Vine and Wine Act, in addition to introducing the necessary changes in its functions and form of operation.”

Composition and functions

The Control Board Plenary, Management Body of the Designation appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and accountable to this Ministry, consists of 32 members representing five winemaking and nine grape-growing associations —i.e. all the associations in the Rioja wine industry— and they are the same individuals constituting the Board of Directors of the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization, whose President is also the President of the Control Board, pursuant to current regulations. Also members of the Plenary, although without the right to vote, are the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and of the Public Administrations of the Autonomous Communities of La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarre.

Article 40 of the Regulations states that the Control Board has “in addition to the functions set forth in the provisions of a general nature which apply to it, and those attributed in this Regulation,” the following responsibilities: complying and enforcing the regulations, recommending any internal provisions that may be necessary to carry these out, and ordering the implementation of any decisions agreed upon; governing and managing the activities of the Control Board as well as organising its internal structure and services; administering the revenue and funds of the Control Board and arranging for payments; recruitment, renewal or dismissal of personnel; keeping the Public Administration informed as to any incidents taking place in production or on the market and, finally, sending interested Bodies the agreements passed by the Control Board for general compliance thereof.

With regard to the functions to be carried out by the President of the Control Board, “who will be the President of

the Board of Directors of the Interprofessional Organization and who, in accordance with its Articles, may either be a member of the Board or an outside person,” article 41 confers upon this person the legal representation of the Control Board before any public or private entity, Administration, Body, legal or arbitration authority with the further mandate to chair sittings and moderate the progress of discussions, regulating deliberations and votes; to ensure that laws are complied with; to endorse the Minutes and Certificates of the Board’s agreements and to exercise any other function specifically designated by the Laws, Regulations or the Plenary.

Finally, it is worth pointing out, with regard to the operational structure established in article 42 that the Board will meet a minimum of once every two months as well as whenever deemed necessary by the President or requested by at least 15% of the total votes. All decisions are to be approved by a minimum of 75% of the votes either present and/or represented, with at least 50% of votes from each professional sector. The President does not have a casting vote.

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Representantes de las Comunidades Autónomas:

GRUPO RIOJA - (79 votes and 11 members)

Fernando Salamero Laorden

Jose Luis Benítez Robredo

Enrique Abiega Olabarrieta

Víctor Pascual Zárate

Jesús de Miguel Martínez

Rafael Vivanco Sáenz

Raquel Pérez Cuevas

Julio Noaín Sáinz

Rubén Baz Rodríguez.

Pilar Martínez Zabala

Borja Eguizábal Pérez

ABC (9 votes and 2 members)

Iñigo Torres Andrés

Diego Pinilla Navarro

ABRA (5 votes and 1 member)

Inés Baigorri Uribe

BFR - PROVIR (5 votes and1 member)

Juan Carlos Sancha González

ARAEX (2 votes and 1 member)

Javier Ruiz de Galarreta San Vicente

FECOAR (32 votes and 4 members)

Abel Torres Saenz

Fernando Ezquerro Cuevas

José María Daroca Rubio

Raúl Leza Leza

UCAN (5 votes and 1 member)

Juan Carlos Berrio Fernández de Manzanos.

DOLARE (3 votes and 1 member)

Ramón Emilio Muro Aguirrebeña

ASAJA (30 votes and y 4 members)

Luis Alberto Lecea Blanco

Álex Las Heras Pérez

Juan Luis Martínez Lacanal

José Antonio Rubio Gutiérrez.

UAGA (11 votes and 2 members)

Jesús Bauza Nuin

Enrique Pérez Mazo

UAGR (9 votes and 1 member)

José Luis Pisón Martínez

UPA (4 votes and 1 member)

Eusebio Fernández García

UAGN (4 votes and 1 member)

Pedro Luis Cadarso Ciordia

EHNE (1 votes and 1 member)

Alberto Sáenz Sáinz

Faustino Manso Martínez C.A. La Rioja: Igor Fonseca SantaolallaC.F. Navarra: Julián Suberviola RipaC.A. País Vasco: Bittor Oroz Izaguirre

Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture:

MEMBERS OF THE CONTROL BOARD AND REPRESENTATION (on 10 April 2015)

COMMERCIAL SECTOR (100 votes and 16 members ) PRODUCING SECTOR (100 votes and 16 members )

Representatives of the Autonomous Communities:

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GRUPO RIOJA - (79 votes and 11 members)

Fernando Salamero Laorden

Jose Luis Benítez Robredo

Enrique Abiega Olabarrieta

Víctor Pascual Zárate

Jesús de Miguel Martínez

Rafael Vivanco Sáenz

Raquel Pérez Cuevas

Julio Noaín Sáinz

Rubén Baz Rodríguez.

Pilar Martínez Zabala

Borja Eguizábal Pérez

ABC (9 votes and 2 members)


Diego Pinilla Navarro

ABRA (5 votes and 1 member)


BFR - PROVIR (5 votes and1 member)


ARAEX (2 votes and 1 member)

Javier Ruiz de Galarreta San Vicente

FECOAR (32 votes and 4 members)

Abel Torres Saenz

Fernando Ezquerro Cuevas

José María Daroca Rubio

Raúl Leza Leza

UCAN (5 votes and 1 member)

Juan Carlos Berrio Fernández de Manzanos.

DOLARE (3 votes and 1 member)

Ramón Emilio Muro Aguirrebeña

ASAJA (30 votes and y 4 members)

Luis Alberto Lecea Blanco

Álex Las Heras Pérez

Juan Luis Martínez Lacanal

José Antonio Rubio Gutiérrez.

UAGA (11 votes and 2 members)

Jesús Bauza Nuin

Enrique Pérez Mazo

UAGR (9 votes and 1 member)


UPA (4 votes and 1 member)


UAGN (4 votes and 1 member)


EHNE (1 votes and 1 member)

Alberto Sáenz Sáinz

Faustino Manso Martínez C.A. La Rioja: Igor Fonseca SantaolallaC.F. Navarra: Julián Suberviola RipaC.A. País Vasco: Bittor Oroz Izaguirre

Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture:

MEMBERS OF THE CONTROL BOARD AND REPRESENTATION (on 10 April 2015)

COMMERCIAL SECTOR (100 votes and 16 members ) PRODUCING SECTOR (100 votes and 16 members )

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THE CONTROL BOARD PLENARY AND COMMITTEES

STANDING COMMITTEE

1. The Standing Committee sets the agenda for plenary sittings and deals with any procedural or urgent issues that may arise between one plenary sitting and the next. Other responsibilities include gathering information about decisions regarding labelling, examining minutes and decisions on fines and taking on general or specific plenary directives and mandates.

2. The Regulations Committee was specifically constituted to study the Designation’s Regulations, their modifications and any other legal matters which may arise.

3. The Technical and Control Committee deals with all matters associated with qualitative and quantitative controls, proposing the relevant steps to the plenary in order to implement such controls and enforce the Regulations.

4. The Administration, Personnel, Finance and Internal System Committee puts together the Board’s budget and deals with matters related to the administration of budgetary funds and personnel.

5. The Promotion Committee proposes programmes of action for the Board to the Plenary in the areas of communication and promotion.

6. The Strategic Plan Analysis and Development Committee was created in 2008 to keep track of the Rioja 2005-2020 Strategic Plan.

Committees

The Control Board has a Standing Committee and four Working Committees: Promotion Committee; Administration, Personnel, Finance and Internal System Committee; Technical and Control Committee and Regulations Committee. These committees meet periodically to deal with matters within their area of responsibility and submit proposals to the Plenary for approval.

Chair: Luis Alberto Lecea Blanco (ARAG-ASAJA)

GRUPO RIOJA

Raquel Pérez Cuevas, Víctor Pascual Zárate, José Luis Benítez

Robredo, Fernando Salamero Laorden, Pilar Martínez Zabala

and Borja Eguizábal Pérez

ABC


ABRA


BFR-PROVIR


ARAEX

Javier Ruiz De Galarreta San Vicente

FECOAR

Fernando Ezquerro Cuevas, Raul Leza Leza

and Abel Torres Saenz

ARAG-ASAJA

Juan Luis Martínez Lacanal and Alex Las Heras Pérez

UAGA

Jesús Bauza Nuin

UAGR


UAGN/EHNE


UPA


DOLARE /UCAN

Ramón E. Muro Aguirrebeña

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Chair: Fernando Salamero Laorden (GRUPO RIOJA)

ABC: Iñigo Torres Andrés

ABRA: Inés Baigorri Uribe

ARAEX: Javier Ruiz De Galarreta San Vicente

ARAG-ASAJA: José Antonio Rubio Gutiérrez and Damián Sáenz Angulo

BFR-PROVIR: Juan Carlos Sancha González

DOLARE: Ramón E. Muro Aguirrebeña

EHNE: Javier Sadaba Sainz

FECOAR: Víctor Sanjuán Moreno and José Mª Daroca Rubio

GRUPO RIOJA: José Luis Benítez Robredo, Ruth Chocarro Melgosa,

Ruben Baz Rodríguez and Manuel Rivero Romanos

UAGA: Jesús Bauza Nuin

UAGN: Pedro Luis Cadarso Ciordia

UAGR: Ángel Palacios Muzquiz

UCAN: Carlos Esparza Calvo

UPA: Eusebio Fernández García

Chair: Íñigo Torres Andrés (ABC)

ABRA: Saul Gil Berzal


ARAG-ASAJA: José Antonio Rubio Gutiérrez

and José Antonio Torrecilla Martín



EHNE: Pablo Llorens García

FECOAR: Jesús Puras Aliende and Abel Torres Sáenz

GRUPO RIOJA: Jesús De Miguel Martínez, Víctor Pascual Zárate,

Rodolfo Bastida Caro, José Luis Benítez Robredo

and Alexander Tomé Santaolalla

UAGA: Jesús Bauza Nuin

UAGR: Ángel Palacios Muzquiz

UCAN: Juan Carlos Berrio Fernández De Manzanos

UPA: Miguel Angel Martínez Díez

Chair: Alex Las Heras Pérez (ARAG-ASAJA)


ABFR-PROVIR: Pedro Salguero Aznar

ABRA: Mª Jesús Amelibia Argote

ARAEX: Juan Luis Cañas Herrera

ARAG-ASAJA: José Mª Ruiz Ramirez


FECOAR: José Manuel Madorrán Calvo and Miguel Negueruela Ortega

GRUPO RIOJA: Santiago Frías Monje, Manuel Gómez Campo,

José Luis Benítez Robredo, Iñaki Sesma Arnáiz

and Jesús De Miguel Martínez

UAGA: Eduardo Jalón Lacalle

UAGR: Gonzalo Gil Gil


UPA: José Ramón Peciña Ramírez

ADMINISTRATION, PERSONNEL, FINANCE AND INTERNAL SYSTEM COMMITTEE

Chair: José Luis Benítez Robredo (GRUPO RIOJA)


ABRA: Asunción Eguren Ugarte


ARAG-ASAJA: Alex Las Heras Pérez

ARAG-ASAJA: Amador Lezana Muñoz

BFR-PROVIR: Oscar Tobía


FECOAR: Raul Leza Leza y Gonzalo Salazar De Gurendes

GRUPO RIOJA: Raquel Pérez Cuevas, Miriam Eceolaza Zabalza, Ricardo

Arambarri Pérez and Rodolfo Bastida Caro

UAGA: Miren Itxaso Compañon Arrieta

UAGR: José Antonio Antón Benés


UPA: Antonio Mayoral Cerrolaza

PROMOTIONAL COMMITTEE

Chair: Fernando Ezquerro Cuevas (FECOAR)


ABRA: Angel Bello Berganzo

ARAEX: Juan Luis Cañas Herrera

ARAG-ASAJA: Juan Luis Martínez Lacanal and Gonzalo Pastor Díaz



EHNE: Alberto Sáénz Sáinz

FECOAR: Francisco Martínez Gómez and Abel Torres Saenz

GRUPO RIOJA: Fernando González Muñoz, Eduardo Romero Alvarez,

José Luis Benítez Robredo, Rafael Vivanco Sáenz

and Víctor Pascual Zárate

UAGA: Eduardo Jalon Lacalle

UAGN: Alberto Lacalle Merino

UAGR: Roberto Ruiz-Clavijo Díez

UCAN: Juan Carlos Berrio Fernández De Manzanos

UPA: Tomás Latasa Asso

TECHNICAL AND CONTROL COMMITTEE

REGULATIONS COMMITTEE

STRATEGIC PLAN ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTE

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THE CONTROL BOARDSTRUCTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CHART

Management Body

It consists of the Control Board Plenary, Standing Committee and working committees, President’s Office, as well as the Secretariat-General Directorate and the Marketing and Communication, Administration and Legal departments, except the Empowered Overseers Service, which is a completely independent department carrying out inspection and control tasks.

Control Board Plenary

It is comprised of the same members and voting percentages as the Board Directors of the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization, and it is appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment (MAGRAMA). Its functions are referred to in the Regulations (Art. 39). It is responsible for defining the Designation’s policies based on the two pillars: market promotion and focus, and production

CONTROL BOARD STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CHART

PLENARY

STANDING COMMITTEE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

HEAD OF ADMINISTRATION

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING &

COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT BODY CONTROLLING BODY

HEAD OF THE LEGAL

DEPARTMENT

SECRETARY - GENERAL DIRECTOR

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION

DEPARTMENTPromotion, marketing

and communication

ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT

Administration, records, guarantee cer-

tificates. IT

LEGAL DEPARTMENT.Advice, filing of pro-

ceedings.

EMPOWERED OVERSEERS SERVICE

Inspection and control, etc.

HIERARCHICAL AND FUNCTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

COORDINATION, HIERARCHICAL AND FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE REGARDING INSPECTION AND CONTROL.L.

COMMITTEES:

• Technical • Administration • Promotion • Regulations • Strategic Plan

HEAD OF THE EMPOWERED OVERSEERS

SERVICE

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and quality development and control. It establishes guidelines, approves rules and regulations and develops general policies from the proposals submitted by the committees. Also present in the Plenary meetings —although without voting rights— are the Secretary - General Director and a representative of each of the Autonomous Communities and a representative of the Ministry. When matters affecting particular departments have to be discussed, the heads of these departments may be required attend.

President

The President of the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization. Highest representative of the Control Board (Art. 40). Institutional and legal representation functions before any third party and any other representation delegated by the Plenary. The President calls meetings, establishes the agenda based on working committee requests, and chairs the meetings of the Plenary and of the Standing Committee, determining when discussions and voting should take place. The President ensures compliance with decisions made and endorses the minutes of the meetings, as well as certifications relating to the decisions reached. The President seeks to coordinate associations and strengthen their mutual ties. The president is awarded the necessary powers to enter into contracts as set out in the contracting procedures-manual and established spending levels. The Ministry may also delegate powers to institute proceedings.

Standing Committee

Its functions are also set out in Regulations (Art. 39). It has no executive power, except when delegated by the Plenary, and it is composed of the Control Board President, the chairs of each of the committees and a maximum number of members based on the representation of each association. The Secretary - General Director and the heads of the departments affected by items on the agenda also attend the commission

Working Committees and Committee Chairs

They are non-executive committees which initially examine matters and proposals to be dealt with by the Plenary. Their chairs are elected from among the members of the Plenary. They call and moderate discussions in their respective commissions. They work in coordination with the Secretary - General Director and with the department heads who are also the secretaries of their respective committees. Committee chairs jointly decide with the Secretary - General Director and the Control Board President whether matters should be referred to the Standing Committee and, as the case may be, to the Plenary. They may represent the Control Board in matters regarding the area of responsibility of their committee.

Secretary - General Director

The Control Board’s chief executive, carrying out the normal tasks that would be carried out by the general director or general manager in a company. Ultimately, it is a question of making effective the delegation of management functions, as set out in Art. 39, taking on the responsibilities of the Board’s day-to-day business. The Secretary - General Director is subject to the Plenary and reports to the President. In general, the Secretary - General Director’s responsibilities include: supervising promotion campaigns; organising the staff in all its aspects; preparing submitting and monitoring budgets and financial statements; coordinating departments and, in particular, ensuring that the Legal and Administration departments provide the necessary means to the Control Body according to the budgets established for the Council every year. Annual targets are set by the Plenary and the Secretary - General Director makes a proposal to the Plenary on the annual objectives to be met by department heads.

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STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CHART

Marketing and Communication Department

The department is in charge of programming, developing and deploying promotional campaigns approved by the Board Plenary in accordance with assigned budgets. When necessary, it provides market studies requested by the Control Board’s various areas —for example, in order to make decisions regarding product requirements. Likewise, the department is in charge of the communication of all Board areas, including matters related to controls within an annual plan, which is continuously adapted to Board interests..

Administration Department

The department provides the Board (Plenary, General Directorate, and other departments) with the information and resources it requires to carry out its tasks. It is responsible for the full financial and administrative organisation of the Control Board. The department collects information from the Control Body and manages and updates vineyard and winery records. It also stores and issues guarantee labels and seals. It also provides IT support and supports the wine approval process.

Legal Department

It is a horizontal department in charge of the legal advisory service and of filing non-disciplinary proceedings. It also provides legal advice for the Control Body. It can also file disciplinary proceedings, provided the Ministry delegates such function.

Operation of the departments

The heads of the Administration, Marketing and Communication and Legal departments report to the Secretary - General Director, who is their hierarchical and functional supervisor. Their obligations are: the fulfilment

of annual objectives approved by the Plenary or the Standing Committee to ensure the proper operation of each Department and their staff, as well as coordination with other departments.

Control Body

Consisting of the Empowered Overseers Service. Its Director is independent of the Secretary - General Director and therefore of the Plenary, with regard to fulfilling inspection and control functions, for which the Director reports directly to a representative of the Ministry. The Service is in charge of carrying out all inspection and control tasks required to ensure the origin of the products made by operators and to ensure fair competition among them with respect to compliance with Specifications and Regulations, as well as other provisions of the Control Board regarding the production and marketing of wines protected by the D.O.Ca. Rioja.

The overseers or inspectors who are part of this Department —which has ISO 45011 certification— are empowered by the Ministry to carry out official controls, so their actions and proceedings are presumed to be truthful.

The Empowered Overseers Service may require the collaboration and support of other departments of the Management Body to carry out its inspection and control tasks. Every year, the Director proposes an inspection and control plan together with the Secretary - General Director which is is approved by the Plenary.

They may be also carry out other technical, supportive or reporting tasks outside the realm of inspection and control which may be required by the Management Body tu function properly.

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STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL CHART

THE CONTROL BOARD AN ORGANISATION AT THE SERVICE OF THE WINE REGION

María Dolores Pascual, clerk, and José Antonio Blanco, overseer, celebrated 25 years of service at the Control Board last year.

CONTROL BOARD STAFF (on 31/12/2014)

LUIS ALBERTO LECEAPresident• jOSé LUIS LAPUEnTE SánChEz General Director• DOmInGO RODRIGO mARTínEz head of the Technical Service• mª AnGELES nALDA mURGA Legal Department Lawyer• jOSé IGnACIO mARTínEz DE TORRE Legal Department Lawyer• GREGORIO mARTínEz RAmíREz head of the Administrative and General Services• RICARDO AGUIRIAnO SAn VICEnTEmarketing and Communications manager• CARmEn QUEmADA SáEnz - BADILLOS head of Promotion• REBECA GómEz AIELLO International marketing Technician• jAVIER PASCUAL CORRALCommunication Advisor• SOnIA DOmínGUEz LUmBRERASOverseer• BERnABé ARRIETA VILLAREAL Overseer• jESúS hERnáEz COnDE Overseer• BALTASAR mARChAn nAVARRO Overseer• jAVIER mORAL ALOnSO Overseer• PEDRO SALGUERO RODRíGUEzOverseer• jOSé AnTOnIO BLAnCO RUIz Overseer• jOSé LUIS mARTínEz OLARTE Overseer

• GLORIA CUnChILLOS ABAD 1st class Administrative Officer - President’s Office• AnA PéREz-IzAGUIRRE URQUIzU 1st class Administrative Officer - Legal Department• m.ª AnGELES nALDA SáEnz-TORRE head of I.T.• m.ª VEGA VICEnTE mAnzAnOS Accountant - Administrative Services• m.ª DEL CARmEn YUS GARCíA 1st class Administrative Officer - Technical Service• AmAYA FERnánDEz BEnGOA 1st class Administrative Officer - Technical Service• m.ª SOLEDAD PARmO DE PABLO 2nd class Administrative Officer - Administrative Services• m.ª DOLORES PASCUAL mARTínEz 2nd class Administrative Officer - Technical Service• m.ª jOSé FERnánDEz-AzCOnA PUjADAS 2nd class Administrative Officer - Technical Service• m.ª PILAR GOnzáLEz SáEnz 2nd class Administrative Officer - Technical Service• AnA ROSA LóPEz CAChO 2nd class Administrative Officer- Technical Service• InmACULADA TOmáS CALVO Administrative Officer- Technical Service• m.ª TERESA VICEnTE BASARTE 2nd class Administrative Officer - marketing andCommunications• AnA DíAz BRAVO Specialist Tasting Technician• EDUARDO EChARRI jUSTO Warehouse Supervisor• DAnIEL OLmEDO GARCíA Concierge Receptionist

In 2014 a total of 232 people were hired for temporary services: 186 harvest helpers, 14 techni-cal assistants, 11 employees for the Quality Plan, 15 vineyard technicians, 4 employees for wine stocks inspections, 1 administration assist-ant and a temporary concierge.

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PLENARY DECISIONS

PLENARY OF 7-2-2014

Closing of financial year 2013. It was unanimously agreed to authorise the Administration, Personnel, Finance and Internal Regulations Committee to make the necessary transfers of budgetary items for the 2013 financial year in order to close it, subject to subsequent plenary approval.

CMO funds for promotion. There was a unanimous decision to apply to the wine CMO for co-funding of promo-tion of Rioja wine in the so-called. The grant was requested for the period from 15 June 2014 to 14 June 2015, with an investment of 2,550,000 euros in the United States, 403,690 euros in Mexico, 300,000 in Switzerland, 718,000 in China, 100,000 in Russia and 50,000 in Canada, as well as ena-bling the President to formalize all relevant procedures for this purpose. This is the seventh promotion plan submitted by the Control Board to apply for funds earmarked for this purpose by the Wine CMO.

Allowances and remuneration. It was unanimously agreed to set the allowances for 2014 at 90 euros for members at large to attend plenary sessions, 55 euros for attending working commissions and 75 euros for double

commissions. These amounts to be automatically adjusted in 2015 and thereafter according to the Control Board collective agreement. Commission chairs will be compensated with a double Commission allowance and, when the members at large represent the Control Board, they will receive an allow-ance equivalent to the attendance to a plenary session. The remuneration for the President of the Control Board during fiscal 2014 will be 65.000 euros, relevant tax withholding to be applied, and, from 2015 this amount will updated based on the Control Board collective agreement.

Induction into the Board of Trustees of the Basque Culinary Center. The plenary agreed for the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja (D.O.Ca. Rioja) to join the Board of Trustees of the Basque Culinary Center Foundation. Through this sponsorship, both entities will actively partici-pate in various training projects, such as the development of exclusive Rioja educational modules and participation in the Sommelier and Wine Marketing Master’s course taught in the Wine Institute. It ill also involve wine research projects, such as an R&D project on tapas, and international wine promo-tion. The D.O.Ca. Rioja will initially join for one year with a budget of 150,000 euros, but the relationship may continue provided set goals are met. The Board of Trustees of this

The President of the of the D.O.Ca. Rioja, Luis Alberto Lecea, between the president of the Basque Culinary Center Foundation, Iosu Zabala, and the general director, José María Aizega, at the signing of the agree-ment between the two institutions.

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unique university project in Spain consists of the seven re-nowned chefs who support it —Eneko Atxa, Pedro Subijana, Juan Mari Arzak, Martin Berasategui, Karlos Arguiñano, Andoni Luis Aduriz and Hilario Arbelaitz— the Rector of the University of Mondragón Iosu Zabala; the Director of AZTI-Tecnalia, Rogelio Pozo; and representatives of public institutions and leading food sector companies. In 2014 the D.O.Ca. Rioja will sponsor the meeting of the International Advisory Council of the Basque Culinary Center. Rioja wines will be the only wines poured at meetings and dinners. The Plenary agreed at a subsequent session to appoint José Luis Lapuente Sánchez, director general of the D.O.Ca. Rioja Control Board to represent the institution in its role as Trustee of the Foundation

PLENARY OF 7-3-2014

Contribution of grape growers and wineries to fund the budget. The Plenary unanimously approved the income budget for ordinary and additional expenses for the year 2014. After applying the 817,170.66 euros left over from the previous year, the amount of 6,017,641.67 euros

was agreed upon. Of this budget income, 4,540,829.64 euros are distributed between the producing and marketing sector at a ratio of 25.5% and 74.5% respectively, while the remaining 1,476,812.03 euros are distributed 50% between both sectors. Therefore the overall contribution to the budget of ordinary and additional expenses is 31.51% for producers and 68.49% for marketers.

The levies collected amounted to 0.6468% on planta-tions, putting a value of 0.70 euros per kilo of grapes pro-duced, and a contribution of 0.2579% on certified wines, which are rated on their commercial value (2.79 euros per litre of non-aged wine, 4.03 euros per litre of Crianza wine, 5.64 euros for Reserva wine and 9.83 euros for Gran Reserva). The references that are taken into consideration are the certified grape production volumes and bottles sold in the 2013 financial year.

Each sector to fund 50% of the Budget for Extraordinary Promotional Expenses (8,172,585.62 euros). After applying the 405,731.82 euros left over from 2013, the same propor-tions were agreed for the calculations of the apportionment used with the Ordinary and Additional budgets. Likewise, the funding sources of funding for this special promotion budget

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PLENARY DECISIONS

include the three autonomous communities in which the wine region is located plus CMO funds. The levy percentage ap-plied on plantations is 1.0040%, while the levy percentage on certified wines is 0.2383%.

In short, the contribution of growers to fund the global budget of the Control Board for 2014 is 11.56 euros for every 1,000 kilos of grapes, and this appears on the receipts of registered vineyards. With respect to the wineries, the aver-age of the different wine categories works out to a contribu-tion of 18.57 euros per thousand 75 cl bottles. This includes the face value of the guarantee documents, i.e. the cost of the printing the back label (in fact, if these are self adhesive the cost is increased 5,75 euros per thousand).

Certification of grapes from the 2012 vintage. It was agreed to notify vineyard owners, through the Official Ga-zettes of the autonomous communities of the Designation, that on the date of that announcement the Control Board would send all the Winemaking and Vintage Reports to their owners, with a copy being held at the Control Board’s head office for anyone who did not receive it, and allowing a general period of 10 working days for the submission of applications that directly or indirectly affect the protection of wines by the D.O.Ca. Rioja, establishing the date of 31 March 2014 as the deadline for submitting these applications in all cases..

Specifications. It was decided to ask the Ministry to modify the Specifications with a suggested new wording in point b,9) DESIGNATION, LABELLING, so it would be worded as fol-lows: “The labels of wines certified by the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja the trademark should be compulsory. With prior approval from the competent authority, the man-agement body may establish in its statutes criteria to prevent consumer confusion.”.

Rioja and Tapas. Se aprueba de manera unánime el proyecto de comunicación ‘Gastronomía y Tapas’ con una dotación económica de un millón de euros, encomendándose a la Comisión de Promoción la concreción del plan de comu-nicación en televisión.

PLENARY OF 11-4-2014

The official rating of the 2013 vintage was ‘Good’. The Plenary awarded an official ‘Good’ rating for the 2013 vintage, of which the Designation of Origin wineries made a total of 263.70 million litres, of which 251.44 million litres were finally certified(14.91 white, 12.82 rosé and 223.71 red). This is the average rating of the wines that passed a strict approval process applied to 3,973 samples. These were taken directly from the wineries’ tanks by Control Board per-

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sonnel and subjected to laboratory and sensory tests. Marked by unusual weather conditions, the vintage was successfully managed thanks to the know-how and expertise of Rioja’s grape growers and winemakers. The heterogeneity of the wines yielded by the harvest provided sufficient volumes to cover the needs of all ageing categories and the average value reflects the predominance of good quality wines.

New institutional wines. The Control Board selected the wines to be used at institutional events for a year, dressed with the labels designed especially by the Control Board for each category. The seven wines chosen from among 155 samples submitted by wineries reflect the different types and categories that currently make up the range of Rioja wines. The result is as follows: • Young white, 2013 vintage. Bodegas Faustino, S.L. • Barrel-fermented white, 2012 vintage. Bodegas Tobía, S.L. • Young rosé, 2013 vintage. Bodegas y Viñedos Ilurce, S.A.T. • Young red, 2013 vintage. Bodega San Miguel, S. Coop. • Crianza red, 2011 vintage. Bodegas Palacio, S.A.

• Reserva red, 2010 vintage. Bodegas Bilbaínas, S.A. • Gran Reserva red, 2005 vintage. Bodegas Rioja Vega, S.A.

PLENARY OF 9-5-2014

Promotional activities. The plenary agreed to reserve space and anticipate financial commitments to participate in the Prowein 2015 trade fair with a complementary Rioja space for the Rioja Bodegas who are to attend under the aus-pices of regional governments, associations and ICEX in order to group them and achieve a corporate image. In connec-tion with the co-sponsorship of the event ‘Riojan, Young and Fresh’, it was agreed to request a number of improvements to assess participation. Finally, a budget was agreed for the brand to appear in several shows of the Top Chef show in the Antena 3 TV network.

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PLENARY OF 6-6-2014

Regulatory change on the adoption of agreements by the Control Board Plenary - The plenary approved an amendment to article 41 of the Designation Regulations on the running of the Board itself and the way decisions are made. On this issue, the most important change is that, from now on, blank votes or abstentions shall not be taken into account when calculating the percentage of votes needed for reaching an agreement. The requirement to reach decisions

continues to require a minimum 75% of votes present or rep-resented, and at least 50% of the votes of each professional sector, but as abstentions and blank votes will not be taken into account, decisions can be agreed upon with a smaller number of votes than to date surpass the minimum 75%. With regard to changes in the functioning of the Control Board, these include a reduction from 15 to 7 calendar days as the minimum advance notice for the president to call plenary meetings, as well as the requirements for the validity of such plenary session. Regulations establish that the Control Board

PLENARY DECISIONS

On the occasion of the start of the official period of tasting sessions for the certification of wines of the 2014 vintage, the Control Board presented some major new aspects introduced this year in the procedures used for the sensory evaluation of the wine. These consist mainly of employing cutting-edge technology and applying new protocols in selecting and training the members of the rating

Tasting Panel. As the Control Board president, Luis Alberto Lecea, pointed out, there have been thirty vintages since the launch of the Rioja wines rating plan, and the Control Board still has as its goal to offer consumers the utmost strictness and efficiency guarantees in the certification process so that Rioja wines continue to be a benchmark for quality Spanish wines.

Application of new information technologies to the certification system

The Control Board has 140 professionals in its tasting panel, a number which will increase next year.

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is to meet at least once every two months and whenever deemed necessary by the President or upon request of its members with the support of at least 15% of the votes.

Improvements in certification- The plenary agreed to modify a section of the Certification Standards, raising the number of members in the Certification Committees from three to five. These are the committees that carry out the sensory evaluation of the samples in order to determine whether the batch of wine represented by each sample has the right to use

the Rioja Designation of Origin. This higher number of tasters in each Committee is intended to ensure a better assessment of wines for greater objectivity in the results. The Control Board examines some 7,000 wine samples throughout the year. These include the wines from each vintage for certifica-tion and rating and the permanent evaluation of wines sold through samples collected in the wineries and on the market. Aiming to manage more effectively and make better use of the information, the plenary agreed to computerise the tast-ing process in its three phases and asked the to JIG, to set up a project including programming and equipment for this purpose.

Studies. In relation to promotional actions in 2013, the ple-nary decided to commission the firm Wine Intelligence t carry out a poll on the satisfaction of importers, distributors and on. and off-trade retailers, journalists and buyers, as well as the Rioja wineries participating in actions in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, China and Spain. It was also agreed to ask this company to carry out an awareness, sales and loyalty survey in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 of Rioja and its competitors in the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, China, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Russia. .


2014 Harvest Standards. The Plenary approved the 2014 Harvest Standards, whose main objective is to establish a strict, effective control system to guarantee the quality and authenticity of the grapes and the wines. Aspects include the setting of maximum production yields, compulsory weighing of all grapes at the crush pad employing magnetic cards and quality requirements such as minimum alcohol content. This requires significant human and financial resources. Setting maximum grape production yields is a key aspect. They are determined each harvest taking into account existing condi-tions. For the 2014 maximum allowable yields were set at

The rating system for the 2014 vintage saw the introduction of new information technologies in the tastings. According to José Luis Lapuente, Control Board general director, a specific application was designed based on the official OIV tasting form which tasters use with a digital tablet at every tasting session. This it responds to one of strategic goals of the Control Board, namely gathering qualitative —and not just quantitative— information about markets. Tests and tastings are done both of new wines (more than 4,000 samples per year) and of samples taken in the finished product warehouses of wineries (some 1.400 samples) and samples collected at points of sale on major markets (1.880 samples in the last year), which also includes wines from other regions. Finally, as noted by the director of the Controlling Body of the Control Board, Domingo Rodrigo, tasting procedures are standardized and the panel of tasters, currently comprising 140 renowned professionals, follow homogeneous criteria.

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6,825 kg per hectare for red grape varieties and 9.900 kg per hectare for white varieties. The Board Plenary made this decision by a large majority taking into account that Rioja vineyards promised excellent production levels thanks to the good canopy development throughout the growing cycle. Regarding grape-to-wine ratios, a maximum of 70% (70 litres of wine for every 100 kg of grapes) was set, in line with previous years. For red grapes, the maximum amount of grapes that could be brought to the crush pad was set at an additional 5% (325 kg per hectare) over maximum allowable yields, although the extra grapes could not be used to make certified Rioja wine and the wine from them would have to be removed from the wineries within the period of time specified by the Control Board.

Joining the Board of Trustees of the OEMV. The plenary agreed for the Control Board to join the Board of Trustees of the Spanish Wine Market Observatory with an annual contribution of 30,000 euros a year, appointing José Luis Lapuente, director-general, as its representative. This collaboration agreement whereby Rioja joins the board of the OEMV will intensify relations between both organizations, already in place for years. This will give the Control Board a better understanding of the markets and their trends to sup-port the sales and value of Rioja wines in Spain. Thanks to its understanding of the wine industry and markets and wine consumers, the OEMV has become a reference on the subject, not only at the national, but also the international level. The inclusion of Rioja in the Board of Trustees crystallizes a logical partnership to guide the strategy and efforts of Spanish quality wines in the scope of the Observatory and interpret the large amount of information that it handles on the evolution of the market from a perspective. In addition, the OEMV will carry out a quantitative study of the 12 major foreign destinations to

Rioja by quarters. The information will be presented at annual seminar organised by OEMV

PLENARY OF 5-9-2014

Audit. The Plenary decided to commission EUDITA AUDITE-BRO S.A. to carry out a full audit of the annual accounts for fiscal 2014, as well as delegate to the Standing Committee the decision on possible collaboration with the organisers of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles so that it takes place in Rioja.


Collective agreement. The Board reached a majority agreement to sign the collective agreement governing labour relations in the Control Board for 2014-2015. Wage condi-tions to 31 December 2013 will be maintained in 2014 and there will be a 2,01% raise on 1 January 2015. A compact was signed with permanent employees.

Removal of non-certified wine. Removal of non-certi-fied wine. The Control Board is required to determine how wineries are authorised to remove wines and by-products from their premises. The plenary agreed to update Official Circular No. 5/2002 on the control of removal of wines that have not been certified and by-products to adapt to current regulations.


2015 Budgets. The Plenary approved an expense budget of EUR 14.9 million for the year 2015, which represents an increase of 5,3% over that of 2014. The most significant aspects include the containment of structure costs and the new

BUDGET DISTRIBUTION CRITERIA:COMMERCIAL SECTOR 8,511,333 57.3%PRODUCING SECTOR 6,371,455 42.7%

PLENARY DECISIONS

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2,9

85

,37

7

1,6

62

,31

9

1,3

02

,06

1

88

6,5

61

83

1,6

15

65

0,1

61

56

1,6

90

21

4,0

16

13

1,4

95

75

,00

0

50

,00

0

PROMOTIONAL INVESTMENTS BY COUNTRIES

The Control Board will allocate two-thirds of the 14.9 million euro budget for 2015 to promotion

9,875,294.56 (66.1%)

3,679,753.23 (24.7%)

1,381,571.62 (9.2%)

TOTAL: 14,936,619.41 (an increase of 5,3% over that of 2014)

2015 Budgets

increase in promotional spend, which is close to 10 million euros, more than two-thirds of the total budget of the Control Board. With this decision of the Plenary consolidates the strat-egy used in recent years to improve the positioning of Rioja wines in major markets, boosting spend in promoting the collective brand Rioja. These investments are funded jointly by the producing and marketing sectors, with an additional contribution of European funds (CMO) since 2009 amounting to 2,2 million euros a year. The distribution of the Control Board budget for 2015 between the two sectors, whose con-

tributions per kg of grapes and bottle of wine have remained practically stable these years, will take place according to traditional criteria. In what refers to the ordinary budget of 5,9 million euros, the contribution of the marketing sector will be 68.5% and that of the producing sector 31.5%, while the extraordinary promotional budget (9 million euros) will be distributed 50% between both sectors

Marketing and communication

Control measures for back labels and harvest

Structural expenditure

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INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS

D.O.Ca. Rioja awarded ‘Marca España’. The jury panel of the Ecofin 2014 Awards gave the D.O.Ca. Rioja the award in the category Spain Brand Leader category “for being one of the most universal brands of a national product.” These awards, now in their second edition, recog-nise flagship brands outside our borders. The jury panel met in the Gathered in the Congreso de los Diputados chaired by Francisco Fonseca, head of the representation of the European Commission in Spain. Te jury panel consists of César Vacchiano, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the national MP for La Rioja Concepción Bravo and Sal-vador Molina, President of the Ecofin Council Forum, who defended the nomination of the D.O.Ca. Rioja as a global brand of excellence in Spain.

The D.O.Ca. Rioja participated in the 2014 Vi-nomarket Burgundy as guest of honour. The Presi-dent of the D.O.Ca. Rioja, Luis Alberto Lecea, delivered the closing Conference at the 2014 Vinomarket conference held in Beaune, capital of Burgundy, one of the most reput-ed wine regions of France. The D.O.Ca. Rioja participated this year as guest of honour in this day dedicated to analys-ing the evolution of markets, which represents a recognition of the specific weight that this Wine Region is attaining

inside the international wine industry. The Burgundy Wine Interprofessional Organisation invited the president of the Control Board and the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organi-sation to explain the organisational model and strategies that have helped the Wine Region attain its current position in the markets. Under the name ‘La montée en gamme et vous’, the programme of the 2014 Vinomarket Burgundy conference underscored existing concerns about the evolu-tion of markets in the current context of financial crisis, with a degradation at lower price points and intense competition in the mid level.

Rioja, star of the 2014 Challenge International du Vin. D.O.Ca. Rioja was the invited region of honour at the 38th edition of the renowned Challenge International du Vin wine competition, held in Blaye-Bourg (Bordeaux) on 4 and 5 April 2014. To this purpose, the organisers created a Special Rioja Prize awarded by a jury panel of technical and trade journalists to the best Rioja wine among the gold medal winners. The President of the Challenge International du Vin, Hervé Romat, said “Rioja is one of the most impor-tant designations of origin in the world and one of the ones that have accompanied this renowned event most faithfully throughout its history,” reason why it was decided that in this edition it should be the invited region of honour. Luis Al-berto Lecea, president of the Control Board of the D.O.Ca.

Spain Brand Awards Vinomarket Burgundy ‘Challenge International du Vin 2014’ Agreements with Deusto Business School

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Rioja, welcomed the initiative saying that “such recognition constitutes cause for satisfaction for our wine region and another example of the reputation and leadership that we are achieving internationally.” .

TRAINING

Agreements with Deusto Business School, Univer-sity of La Rioja and Marketing Club. The Control Board president, Luis Alberto Lecea, the dean of Deusto Busi-ness School, Guillermo Dorronsoro and the general director of Deusto Business Alumni, José San Blas Contreras signed a collaboration agreement which establishes, among other initiatives, preferential conditions for access to executive training programmes of the business school at the University of Deusto for all winemaking companies and industry organi-sations that are part of the Control Board. The cooperation agreement signed between the two entities is in line with the policy of Deusto Business School regarding university-indus-try relations. For its part, the Rioja Control Board considers executive training a a fundamental factor in improving busi-ness competitiveness of the wine industry.

The University of La Rioja and the Control Board have renewed the collaboration framework agreement between the two institutions, based on establishing institutional rela-tions to collaborate and carry out cultural, scientific and

academic activities and, in particular, jointly promoting ac-tivities such as courses, conferences, seminars or conferences associated to the designated goals and of interest for both entities. In 2014, the Control Board sponsored the award for Best Oenology Degree Thesis, which was granted by the evaluating Committee to Neyba Quintana Díez.

The Control Board also maintains a collaboration agree-ment with the Club de Marketing de La Rioja, sponsoring various training activities aimed at the wine sector which it organises throughout the year, such as the Wine Marketing Forum.

Spain Brand Awards Vinomarket Burgundy ‘Challenge International du Vin 2014’ Agreements with Deusto Business School

Agreements with the University of La Rioja

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The funding for the Control Board’s activities comes from contributions made by the winegrowers and bodegas registered with it, based on the following:

- Compulsory fees for the value of protected production. These are based on actual grape production from the previous year’s harvest.

- Compulsory fees for protected products. These are based on actual sales of each type of wine —Generic, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva— in the previous year.

- Compulsory fees for documented certified value. - Compulsory fees for back labels and seals. These are

based on the back labels and seals issued to the bodegas which sell the wine.

The basic budget of expenditure and investment is established considering the objectives of the activities and services that the Board provides for its members. In order to calculate the ordinary budget based on the income from protected production, the figures were taken from the approved volume of the previous year’s grape harvest and an estimated average price per kg of protected grapes in

the wine region, calculated as 0.70 euro/kg. The basis for calculating the income budgeted for sales is the statistics on the number of litres sold in the previous year and the average prices per litre according to operators’ monthly reported statistics for each of the categories of wine sold for export: 2.79 euros/litre for Generic wine, 4.03 euro/l for Crianza, 5.64 euro/l for Reserva, and 9.83 euro/l for Gran Reserva.

This is used as the basis to apply the participations for each sector —producing and commercial— and the resulting percentages are applied to determine the compulsory fees for members.

Also, fees are applied on the documented value and the value assigned to guarantee and control documents, back labels and/or seals, both contributions being maintained without variation over previous years than those due to the amounts on the documents submitted. The compulsory fees on guarantee marks is an amount related to the number of documents that each bodega received the previous year and this is divided into twelve monthly instalments.

Grants were received for promotional campaigns co-

Budgets and funding

THE BOARD´SFINANCIAL RESOURCES EXPENDITURE BUDGET FOR 2014

PERSONNEL EXPENSES

Permanent personnel costs 1,415,544.92

Temporary personnel costs 528,953.80

Social Security Contributions 506,887.91

Social costs 28,542.85

SECTION I TOTAL I 2,479,929.48

EXPENDITURE ON CURRENT ASSETS AND SERVICES

Repairs and maintenance (Buildings, machinery and tools, transport materials, furniture, computer equipment, gardening, cleaning and tangible fixed assets)

104,073.18

Office equipment, supplies and miscellaneous (Materials, fuel, communications, transport, insurance for premises and vehicles, taxes, etc.) 298,385.52

Miscellaneous expenses (Public Relations, promotional material, protecting the brand and the Designation and unforeseen costs.) 370,146.05

Work done by other companies (Nielsen Report, computer programming, Press Office, Quality Plan, analyses, samples, maintenance, cleaning.))

171,460.60

Payments for services (Travel, maintenance, accommodation, assistance, etc.)

318,719.79

SECTION II TOTAL 1,262,785.14

ACTUAL INVESTMENTS

Equipment for computer processes, furniture, equipment and others 67,140.02

Control measures for back labels and harvest 1,413,781.53

POS controls 63,030.50

Communication and Promotion (Fairs, exhibitions, functions, promotion in the media, communications, competitions, collaboration and promotional objects)

730,975.00

SECTION III TOTAL 2,274,927.05

SUMMARY OF ORDINARY BUDGET

PERSONNEL EXPENDITURE 2,479,929.48

EXPENDITURE ON CURRENT ASSETS AND SERVICES 1,262,785.14

INVESTMENTS 2,274,927.05

TOTAL ORDINARY BUDGET 2014 6,017,641.67

EXTRAORDINARY BUDGET

8,172,585.62

TOTAL EXTRAORDINARY BUDGET 8,172,585.62

TOTAL GLOBAL BUDGET 2014 14,190,227.29

(Domestic market and foreign markets: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, China, Mexico and Switzerland)

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN

The certification and promotion of Rioja wine carried out by the Control Board is funded with the contributions made by the grape growers and wineries listed under the Designation.

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EXPENDITURE BUDGET FOR 2014

PERSONNEL EXPENSES

Permanent personnel costs 1,415,544.92

Temporary personnel costs 528,953.80

Social Security Contributions 506,887.91

Social costs 28,542.85

SECTION I TOTAL I 2,479,929.48

EXPENDITURE ON CURRENT ASSETS AND SERVICES

Repairs and maintenance (Buildings, machinery and tools, transport materials, furniture, computer equipment, gardening, cleaning and tangible fixed assets)

104,073.18

Office equipment, supplies and miscellaneous (Materials, fuel, communications, transport, insurance for premises and vehicles, taxes, etc.) 298,385.52

Miscellaneous expenses (Public Relations, promotional material, protecting the brand and the Designation and unforeseen costs.) 370,146.05

Work done by other companies (Nielsen Report, computer programming, Press Office, Quality Plan, analyses, samples, maintenance, cleaning.))

171,460.60

Payments for services (Travel, maintenance, accommodation, assistance, etc.)

318,719.79

SECTION II TOTAL 1,262,785.14

ACTUAL INVESTMENTS

Equipment for computer processes, furniture, equipment and others 67,140.02

Control measures for back labels and harvest 1,413,781.53

POS controls 63,030.50

Communication and Promotion (Fairs, exhibitions, functions, promotion in the media, communications, competitions, collaboration and promotional objects)

730,975.00

SECTION III TOTAL 2,274,927.05

SUMMARY OF ORDINARY BUDGET

PERSONNEL EXPENDITURE 2,479,929.48

EXPENDITURE ON CURRENT ASSETS AND SERVICES 1,262,785.14

INVESTMENTS 2,274,927.05

TOTAL ORDINARY BUDGET 2014 6,017,641.67

EXTRAORDINARY BUDGET

8,172,585.62

TOTAL EXTRAORDINARY BUDGET 8,172,585.62

TOTAL GLOBAL BUDGET 2014 14,190,227.29

(Domestic market and foreign markets: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, China, Mexico and Switzerland)

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN

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financed with CMO funds totalling 2,079,168.15 euros, of which 1,435,095.65 euros came from the fifth year CMO contribution, which ended 30 June 2014 which had already been received, and the rest, 644,072.50 euros, corresponds to the following CMO years ending on 14 June 2015 and is awaiting collection. In addition, funds were received from the La Rioja Government amounting to 210,000.00 euros, the Basque Government (60,000.00 euros) and the Statutory Community of Navarre (26,455.84 euros) and from Navarre to cover some of the same types of expenses.

The budget and collection percentages are subject to approval by the General Directorate of Food Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. .

Extraordinary budget. The Control Board Plenary approved an Extraordinary Budget of 8,172,585.62 euros for the Marketing and Promotion Plan. This Extraordinary Budget, together with the amount approved in the Ordinary Budget for communication, represents a significant sum to promote Rioja wine on the various markets and is mainly used in advertising and promotion on the domestic and foreign markets. The actions to be undertaken in the area of marketing and communication are studied by a group of experts selected from among the associations represented in the Control Board, as well as the Board’s own staff. The group of experts assesses plans, actions and budgets for each country and submits them to the Plenary for approval. The plans include advertising and promotional actions mainly in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, China, Mexico, Switzerland, Russia, Ireland and Canada.

Part of the budget was also assigned to advertising and promotion in the domestic market, with the Rioja&Tapas campaign in five cities.

Expense budget. The basic budget for expenses and investments was defined taking into account the goals, actions and services that the Board provides for its members. The Budget includes personnel costs based on the Collective Agreement, maintaining control activities. Operating costs were similar, adapting items to the Consumer Price Index and to the requirements of activities. In the area of Communication and Promotion, there was a continuance of activities such as the Rioja Wine News Show, an off-trade campaign, attending fairs, tasting courses and on-trade and Internet dissemination.

The collection of POS samples both in Spain and abroad continued. An additional item was the investment in the implementation of the “Rioja Trustseal” holograph on labels and seals.

FINANCIAL RESOURCES

BUDGET DISTRIBUTION CRITERIA 2014

DISTRIBUTION BUDGET PRODUCING SECTOR % COMMERCIAL SECTOR %

ORDINARY BUDGET 4,540,829,64 1,157,911,56 25,50% 3,382,918.08 74.50%

ADDITIONAL BUDGET 1,476,812.03 738,406.01 50.00% 738,406.02 50.00%

EXTRAORDINARY BUDGET 8,172,585.62 4,086,292.81 50.00% 4,086,292.81 50.00%

TOTAL BUDGET 14,190,227.29 5,982,610.38 42.16% 8,207,616.91 57,84%

Activity Reports by departmentADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

LEGAL DEPARTMENTTECHNICAL SERVICE


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Activity Reports by departmentADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

LEGAL DEPARTMENTTECHNICAL SERVICE


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Strict compliance with the Regulations of the Rioja ‘Califi-cada’ Designation of Origin requires controlling and issuing a considerable number of documents each year. The most important documents are the export documents, authorisations for transporting wines between registered bodegas, process-ing vintage control forms for the different types and categories of wines and issuing bodegas with the back labels and seals that guarantee the origin, quality, vintage and category of wines protected by the Designation of Origin.

The Administrative Services are also responsible for the financial management of the Board from winemaking and budget supervision, to accounting management, cash flow, and collection of the various types of taxes from grape grow-ers and bodegas —which constitute the Board’s income— and relevant expenditures.

Document management

Export documents. In 2014, a total of 610 certificates of origin were issued for exports to foreign countries. Authentica-tion of the wine’s origin in the accompanying documents is not required for bottled wine as each bottle bears its own individual certificate. Transfer authorisations. The total volume of wine trans-ferred between registered wineries in 2014 amounted to 212 million litres. A total of 3,847 authorisations were issued for the transfer of these protected wines.

Vintage control forms. The Control Board Administrative Services issued a total of 1,034 vintage control forms in 2008 for the various types and categories of wine,2014

Back labels and Seals. A total of 14,579 “documents for back labelling/sealing Rioja wines, and other expeditions exempt from requiring commercial documents” —which have to be filled in by both growers wine sellers— were issued and recorded for 2014.

Also, the 6,790 deliveries of back labels and seals made to registered bottlers of Rioja wine totalled 383,338,622 guarantee documents. Of these 2,930,509 were normal pa-per back labels, 6,578,694 were self-adhesive back labels, 172,887,543 were normal paper seals and 200,941,876 were self-adhesive seals. In addition to these deliveries, the relevant printers delivery documents were drawn up and registered. These totalled 2,900 forms and 721 return docu-ments.

As in previous years, the use of seals rose. While in 2000 seals represented 78% of guarantee documents, this figure rose to 97% in 2014. This is due to the increasing use by wineries of back labels that contain information about the wine. The use of guarantee documents printed on self-adhesive rather than normal paper has also risen from 17% in 2006 to 54% in 2014.

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Activity Reportsby department

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LEGAL DEPARTMENTActivity Reportsby department

The Control Board de the D.O.Ca. Rioja has a Legal Department that has been part of its organisational structure since 1986. It was later incorporated into its Regulations through the Order of 3 April 1991, which granted it the ‘Calificada’ level, maintaining its presence in the current Regulations, approved by Order APA/3465/2004, of 20 October 2004. It is one of the few Control Boards to have its own permanent service of this nature, which gives an idea of the level of development achieved by the Designation.

The activities of the Legal Department mainly involve processing administrative files within the Organisation. The main reasons for instituting such proceedings are: requests regarding the production of grapes to make protected wines and the transformation of grapes into wine; rejection of wines; authorisation and denial of back labels; modifications in records (mainly new entries and deletions); and suspensions and cancellations in the various registers —vineyards, winer-ies, etc.

When processing disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Control Board –whether as a result of inspections carried out by its Overseers, by order or justified request from other entities within the Public Administration, or arising from com-plaints– the Legal Department provides assistance in all stages of the proceedings: preparation, drawing up and processing of actions by the Instructing Officer, drawing up reports on allegations and appeals proposed by the Instructing Officer for the Ministry of the Agriculture, Food and the and, as the case may be, the courts of justice.

The Legal Department also draws up legal reports on different issues that affect the Designation and the Control Board, taking the necessary steps to defend the Designation before public authorities and in court.

Another function of the Legal Department is to provide information and advice for registered growers and winemak-ers, and others. It also responds to requests for documents by the courts —particularly in civil cases— arising from claims between private individuals on plantations protected by the Rioja ‘Calificada’ Designation of Origin.

Administrative proceedings

In 2014, the department processed a total of 1,286 administrative records arising from actions initiated in other departments of the Control Board. The reasons for them, are basically, in the case of disciplinary proceedings: labelling violations, Grape Grower’s Card violations, omissions and errors in the guarantee document statements, due to capacity discrepancies, due to the presence of non-protected wine beyond the deadline for staying in the winery, unauthorised wine expeditions, vinification rules violations and irrigation. A total of 281,780.36 euros in fines were collected for the National Treasury Department in 2014. These sums are from proceedings instituted on or before 2014 and closed this year.

Non-disciplinary proceedings arise from requests for approval of label designs, registration of productive vineyards after they are authorised by the Departments or Regional Ministries of Agriculture of the three Autonomous Communities in which the wine region is located, incidents observed on the field by the Empowered Overseers Service with respect to vineyards in their second year (discrepancies related to how many vines can be held, grape varieties grown, planta-tion densities, location etc.), allegations related to the wine approval process, claims on the amount of grapes protected, etc.

Relations with other legal institutions

The trend already observed in previous years continued, with slight growth in the number of disputes between regis-tered members or disputes in which one of the parties is a registered member, affecting vineyards, planting rights, or assets of wineries is increasing the number of requests made by Courts to the Control Board for reports and certificates. In 2014, the Legal Department did not lodge any appeals be-fore ordinary courts against rulings on disciplinary proceed-ings instituted by the Control Board.

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Regulations Committee

The Control Board has a Regulations Committee with equal representation from each sector. The Committee’s secre-tary is the Solicitor of the Legal Department. The main mission that was entrusted to it for 2014, was to study and discuss the Draft Bill and later the Bill on Designations of Origin and Protected Geographical Indications with a Supra-Regional Area; as well as the criteria for containing the prejudice to protected wines covered and confusion among consumers regarding designations.

Other activities of the Legal Department

The Legal Department has participated in various forums and prepared various reports, assessments and comments.

Maintaining the legal documentation service. The Legal Department has an extensive register which is constantly updated on legislation regarding vineyards and quality wines which includes European and Spanish laws, and particularly the legislation of the Autonomous Communities of La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarre in this area.

In 2001 the Legal Department included legislative information in the Control Board website. It includes both Spanish and European laws and regulations applicable to the D.O.Ca. Rioja, as well as the Official Circulars that describe the most significant decisions of the Plenary of the Control Board. It was duly updated in 2014.

Compilations and manuals. The Legal Department main-tains an up-to-date compilation of basic Spanish rules and regulations applicable to the D.O.Ca. Rioja and to other wine Designations of Origin, and of the Official Circulars issued by the Control Board containing regulations since 1968, with

LEGAL DEPARTMENT

Labelling

A total of 858 label requests were processed, of which 370 correspond to new brands and 391 to design changes in previously-authorised labels. 97 labels did not meet established criteria or desisted from obtaining approval.

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subject and chronological indices. Another function of the Legal Department is to provide in-

formation and advice for registered growers and winemakers, and others. Similarly, appropriate response is given to such requests for documentation as may be issued by courts of law.

The Legal Department also participated in various forums and prepared various reports, assessments and comments. Among these are:

a) Giving a talk at the University of La Rioja on the D.O.Ca. Rioja for students at the OIV Masters degree course on 4 February 2014.

b) Meetings with the Ministry of agriculture and the Eu-ropean Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture (11 February) to consolidate the specification of conditions of the D.O.Ca. Rioja.

a) Participating in the Wine Tech project Advisory Com-mittee.

b) Representing the Spanish Conference of Wine Control Boards at the Governing Council of the Wine Technology Platform.

c) Collaborating, coordinating activities and representing the Spanish Conference of Wine Control Boards at the EFOW (European Federation of Origin Wines).

d) Writing reports and articles on labelling and exercising official controls.

e) Preparing various reports and drafts relating to the Draft Bill on Designations of Origin and Protected Geographi-cal Indications with a Supra-Regional Area.

f) Representing the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja at an international lobby group advocating origin and geo-graphical names.

g) Training seminars on the D.O.Ca. Rioja in China, at the DIAM Forum (9 April) and on the Russian market, at the Cervantes Institute in Moscow (11 September)

a) Member of the permanent Working Group of the Wine Technology Platform (Wine Economy Section).

b) Participating in the General Secretariat of the Spanish Conference of Wine Control Boards (CECRV)

c) Assisting the Rioja Wine Interprofessional Organization in court proceedings and in the development of the process of accreditation of representation.

d) Meeting with the Food Information and Control Agency for the study of the application of the Measures Act to improve the operation of the Food Chain (18 December)

e) Participation in the Assessment Committee for the Degree in Oenology from the University of La Rioja.

f) Study and assessment of draft Community regulations and national Bills for Royal Decrees regarding the conversion of plantation rights and the new system of authorisations.

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TECHNICAL SERVICEActivity Reportsby department

The Control Board Empowered Overseers Service controls the Wine Region both administratively and on the field, with activities as diverse as managing the Register of Wineries and Vineyards, managing the Grape Grower’s Cards and monitoring growing practices, grape production and wine production, inspecting wineries and vineyards, monitoring the movement, ageing and marketing of wines, checking and monitoring guarantee documents, obtaining market samples and, finally, producing statistics.

A. INSPECTION SERVICE.

To carry out inspections, the Control Board has a team of Overseers who are empowered by the Ministry of Agriculture. Among other functions, they enforce growing and winemaking regulations, particularly those of the Regulations of the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja.

Vineyard inspections: Planting density, authorised varie-ties, growing practices (pruning and irrigation), production yields, and other aspects are examined. Any violations detect-ed during inspections are consigned in a report and filed for further action. In addition, the Empowered Overseers Service inspects the phenological state of the grapevines, weather incidents, pests and diseases that may affect the development of the harvest and yields. In its final phase, the ripening of the grapes is monitored and a weekly report is issued in order to keep growers informed so the harvest will take place in the most appropriate dates in order to optimise quality.

In order to guarantee the origin and quality of Rioja wines, the Control Board Plenary determines a set of Harvest Standards every year that govern the harvest and constitute a stringent control system which the Board’s Empowered Overseers Service is responsible for strictly enforcing. During the harvest it is responsible for monitoring the movement of grapes, checking the borders of the wine region, checking the

quality of the grapes and coordinating the Harvest Helpers that are placed at each crush pad.

Wine rating: after each harvest, the wines are rated. The Empowered Overseers Service takes care of implementing and coordinating the process with the assistance of temporary staff. Samples of the new wines are taken for testing at the Wine Region’s official laboratories and for sensory assess-ment by the Control Board Tasting Panel. Throughout the year, during the ageing process until the wine is marketed, quality control of wines continues with random collection of samples at wineries which are also subjected to both tests and tastings.

Winery inspections: The Control Board’s Empowered Overseers Service carries out systematic inspections in winer-ies, checking the wine stocks in each type of container and their record sheets, the guarantee of origin documents and the finished product warehouses. They also control and supervise the circulation of wines between registered wineries and the dispatching of wines that are not protected by the Designa-tion. They check out any complaints regarding the misuse of the Rioja Designation of Origin both inside and outside its territory. The Control Board employs the company AC Nielsen to carry out a market poll on Rioja Wine in Spain and other countries where it is sold regularly, particularly in Europe. Every month, samples of Rioja wines are taken at points of sale and taken to the Control Board, where they are exam-ined by the Board Overseers’ Service and the Tasting Com-mittee, both to assess the characteristics of the product and to check the authenticity of the guarantee labels.

The Control Board’s team of Overseers also verifies the results of the wine rating files, checking lab and tasting reports and notifying the results to the winemakers, deals with the enquiries that are received every day, both at the premises and by telephone, authorises the transport of wines and the issuing of back labels and seals, and writes different types of reports, including those on winery and vineyard inspections, records of violations, the approval of the wines made by each

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winemaker every year, the progress of the growth cycle and weather incidents, grape ripening and harvest controls.

Anomalies that appear on the wine movement records are also constantly evaluated.

B. IT SECTION

One of the permanent goals of the Control Board is to computerise its services with major investments in the past few years. This has led to decisive progress in streamlining and improving the efficiency of all the control systems, thereby refining traceability and quality assurance for consumers. As control systems become more complex, more sophisticated equipment and more powerful software are required, allowing the Board to design more suitable programs for fulfilling its goals.

The activities of the IT Section related to viticulture focus

on managing the Vineyard Registry (new registrations, cancellations, ownership changes, etc.), managing the Grape Grower’s Magnetic Cards; processing grape deliveries and harvest statements submitted by growers; and issuing harvest reports to growers and wineries with figures on protected and unprotected grapes and wines.

This year, more improvements were implemented in the computer program used to manage grape deliveries with the Grape Grower’s Card, transmitting data to the Control Board server and processing them. This allows for a continuous, real-time flow of information on the production and yields of each grower and on vinification at the wineries. There is a website where every grower and winery can access their harvest and grape delivery details, making it a useful tool for drawing up the harvest statement.

200 terminals were deployed in as many grape weighing and receiving locations to process grape deliveries

The Control Board carries out field checks on compliance by growers of the D.O.Ca. Regulations regarding growing practices, training and pruning, planting density, that the grape varieties planted are authorised, etc

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TECHNICAL SERVICE

to wineries with the 16,332 Grape Grower’s Cards and control of transshipments between wineries. The experience acquired and the improvements of the last six years since the implementation of the Grape Grower’s Card have resulted in very positive and satisfactory feedback from registered growers. There is a commitment to progressively optimise the harvest process even further. During the harvest, the Technical Service responds immediately to any problems that arise in using the Grape Grower’s Cards.

After the harvest all the sworn winemaking statements are processed, and the data supplied by vendors and purchasers of grapes and must is compared with the data gathered by the Control Board.

During the approval process, files are processed and so are the data obtained from laboratory and sensory tests, and every owner sends a report on each batch of wine. After each vintage is rated, a file is opened on each vinification where all movements affecting that particular batch of wine are recorded. Records are also kept to monitor wines which are not protected or have been rejected, so they can be removed from the wineries in accordance to regulations.

Every month, wineries are required to submit wine movement and stock control sheets on every vintage. The data on the movement of the wines and the stock of each vintage held by the bodegas is processed monthly using a computer program, checking that the movement and stock data match the records. Labelled wines are checked for accuracy of ageing times against the Control Board labels that they bear.

Statistics are compiled on the sales of Rioja wine on the domestic market and abroad —by country, by type of winery, by category and by type of wine— which are sent to the wineries and associations for their information.

The Winery Register is permanently updated with information about new wineries, wineries that close and changes in the facilities, containers and capacity of registered wineries.

INSPECTION ACTIVITIES

Designation of Origin monitoring and inspection tasks are carried out by the Control Board’s eight Empowered Overseers, who do part of their work at the Control Board premises where, this year, these tasks took up 21.86% of their time. This office work includes various tasks —such as responding to the numerous queries that are received daily on the premises or over the phone, assessing the approval files of each winemaker, authorising the movement of wines and delivering guarantee documents, writing various types of reports— that are complementary to the inspections carried our in vineyards and wineries and affidavits when additional reports are required. A total of 609 inspection reports were filed in 2014. Reports are also submitted on the growth cycle, weather incidents and how the harvest progressed in each sub-area.

Anomalies that appear on the wine movement records are also constantly evaluated.

Inspections took up the remaining 78.14% of the Overseers’ time. A total of 1,384 inspection trips were taken, which break down as follows:

• Vineyard inspections: 21.98 %• Winery inspections: 42.47 %• Vintage approval inspections: 17.05 %• Harvest controls: 12.07 %• Other activities: 6.43 %

Vineyard inspections. The Control Board Empowered Overseers Service carries out field inspections to ensure that vineyard owners are complying with the Designation’s Regula-tions on growing practices, such as training and pruning, planting distance, the use of authorised grape varieties, and so on. Since 1994, every vineyard is systematically checked before it begins to produce grapes and, hence, before it is included in the Grape Grower’s Card. These Inspections of vineyards which have been authorised by the relevant Public Administration, aim to check that the registration details match

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the vines that are actually planted. These specific controls were carried out in 2014 on vineyards that had been planted in 2012 and that will be coming into production next harvest. For this work, the Control Board hired 13 technicians who were coordinated by the Empowered Overseers Service and who carried out on-site inspections in August and September, on 1,273 vineyards in 105 locations belonging to 996 own-ers. Anomalies are assessed by the Empowered Overseers Service and forwarded to the Control Board Legal Depart-ment, which opens a file to study the situation, temporarily suspending the vineyard’s registration as a precautionary measure. Of the 1,273 vineyards that were visited, a total of 123 vineyards had some type of incident, mostly of an administrative nature that were easily settled. Taking into account that some vineyards had several incidents, the anomalies break down as follows: changes in planted varie-ties, usually among authorised red grapes (27.34%); surface areas different from those authorised (38.13%); errors in plot identification (21.58%); different years of plantation or graft-ing (6.48%); not being planted or having a high percentage

of missing vines (2.88%); inferior plantation density (0.72%); and, finally, unplanted vineyards (2.88%).

Monitoring of reference vineyards. In order to monitor vineyards each year and compare them with previous years, the Control Board Technical Service has chosen 168 plots which serve as a reference to assess the development of the vines through the different phenological stages: budding, fertility, setting, veraison and ripening. This allows the Service to continuously determine production and quality forecasts, which are regularly reported to both the Control Board Ple-nary and to registered members. The work is carried out by the Overseers’ Service together with two support technicians.

Vineyard production controls. During the season, inspections were carried out to detect vineyards with high production levels in order to inform owners about incidents in their vineyards, so they can take the necessary corrective measures. To this purpose, the Empowered Overseers Service had the support of 13 technicians who were hired for this

The Control Board overseers monitor vineyards employing technologies s¡uch as a Geographical Information System which provides satellite photographs of the vineyards, and the ‘geoexplorer’, a very useful instrument for field work.

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TECHNICAL SERVICE

purpose. There was a prior sampling taken in all the munici-palities and approximately 10,000 vineyards distributed throughout the region were assessed. When production was considered consolidated, each of the growers with excess yields was notified of the irregular situation so that they could adjust yields to the Harvest Standards at the outset of verai-son. Every vineyard inspected had to adjust its production by removing clusters.

Monitoring of vineyards and grape ripening. The Empowered Overseers Service plays a key role in monitoring the phenological state of the grapevines, weather incidents, pests and diseases that may affect plant development and harvest yields. The final stage of the cycle involves monitoring grape ripening and, on 25 August 2014, sample collection began a task carried out by the Empowered Overseers Serv-ice since 1993 with the aim of determining the most appropri-ate harvesting dates for each municipality. After accredited laboratories in all three Autonomous Communities analyse the samples, the Board publishes a “results newsletter”, which comes out every week and is widely circulated among grow-ers and winemakers. A total of 7 newsletters were published between 25 August and 6 October 2014, with figures on grape varieties, planting year, altitude, grape weight, po-tential alcohol content, total tartaric acidity, pH, malic acid, potassium, TPI, anthocyanins and colour intensity.

Harvest controls. During harvest, the Empowered Over-seers Service controls grape movements and the arrival of grapes at the wineries, keeps watch over the wine region’s borders, checks grape quality and coordinates the Harvest Helpers hired by the Board to supervise grape weighing at each of the scales located near vinification centres, where each has a Harvest Terminal that processes the data from every Grape Grower’s Card. For the 2014 harvest, the Board hired a total of 183 Harvest Helpers, in addition to 15 ad-ditional Support Technicians who helped with the inspection tasks of the Empowered Overseers Service. They were dedi-

cated mainly to controlling the wine region’s borders, random-ly inspecting the harvesting of vineyards and grape loading and supervising the harvest helpers at weighing stations.

Winery inspections. Before registering the wineries, the Overseers’ Service inspects their facilities to ensure that they conform with the information provided in the request form and that they meet with the D.O. Ca. Regulations for each type of registration (growers, keepers, co-operatives and ageing).

In 2014, the Overseers’ Service also carried out a total of 531 wine stock inspections in wineries. These are undertaken systematically to check stocks and ageing in various containers by type of wine and vintage, as well as to check on the use of back labels and seals by bottling wineries. They also systematically undertake inspections in the finished product warehouses and take samples to verify labelled wines. Finally, it carries out monitoring and surveillance tasks throughout the year, dealing with the circulation of wines between registered wineries and the dispatching of wines that are not protected by the Designation or that have been disqualified. Wines being transported are sampled extensively and subjected to laboratory and sensory tests. The Empowered Overseers Service also carries out activities regarding complaints about improper use of the Rioja name outside the wine region. Technical Service personnel also cooperates in dissemination activities (tastings, conferences, etc.) carried out by the Control Board.

Approval of 2013 vintage wines. The Control Board has been applying an approval process to all the wines produced in each vintage since 1980, following up on these wines throughout the various ageing stages. The enforce-ment and coordination of the approval process for the wines of each new vintage is the responsibility of the Empowered Overseers Service.

The first applications for 2013 wine approvals were submitted on 4 November 2013, so the wines could be marketed as young wines. During the month of November

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2013 several wineries also asked for early approval of up to 10% of their wine. Systematic sample taking began on 1 December, attending to the requests of wineries. The sample collection schedule is implemented by the Empowered Overseers Service with the help of nine temporary employees. Samples are taken from every single tank in each winemaking winery. The sample taking process concluded on 5 March 2014, as a very high number of samples were taken this year and many of the wineries did not ask for samples to be taken until close to the deadline. In a first stage, 3,811 samples were taken. These represented 260.7 million litres of wine of this vintage made in the D.O.Ca. Rioja. Of these, 655 samples (95.9%) were approved. New samples were taken of the rejected wine for which appeals had been lodged between 7 January and 29 May 2014. Thus, the total number of samples taken was 4,145 For the 2013 vintage, the Control Board used 139 tasters to carry out sensory tests. The number of members in the tasting panel was increased this year, following the significant drop in the previous year, when panel members had to undergo tests. 18 new applicants who passed the selection tests joined the panel. Five daily tastings were held in the Control Board tasting room, with a total of 291 sessions of 15 samples each. The tastings not only

determine whether the wine samples are suitable as Riojas but also rate them, and these ratings are then pooled to determine the official overall vintage rating. The Appeals Committee, which consists of 18 members, met in ten sessions, each attended by five tasters. They assessed 70 samples that had been initially rejected by the Regular Tasting Committee, of which 31 were approved and 39 definitely rejected.

The approval process represents one third of the work carried out by the Control Board Empowered Overseers for three months; two tasting coordinators and one driver for three months; one secretary for five months and seven specialists who take samples during one and a half months. 2 to 4 vehicles were used every day to transport sample takers and samples. Chemical analyses of samples were carried out in the laboratories of the wine research stations in the relevant Autonomous Communities, free of charge for registered growers.

Monitoring of approved wines. In 2014, the Empow-ered Overseers Service took 1,422 samples of market-ready bottled wines from finished product warehouses in different wineries before they left the winery.

Another 1,200 wines were sampled in the Spanish

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TECHNICAL SERVICE

market and 680 samples were taken in several countries. All were subjected to lab and sensorial tests and their labels were checked. The results were highly satisfactory, showing that most wines surpassed the official global rating originally awarded to the vintage during the initial rating stage. This is logical, as the best wines of each vintage are used for the Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva categories.

IT SECTION

Equipment. During the year two major network servers were replaced with others with higher processor speeds and stor-age capacity. Both are HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8 model with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB hard drive.

The periodic renewal of hardware (PCs, peripherals, etc.) as it becomes obsolete was continued this year.

Programming. The various applications used in-house were maintained.

IT Section: Wineries. Wine movements and stocks: the Control Board Technical Service undertook exhaustive com-puter controls of wine and stock movements carried out by the wineries. Proof of this is that, every month, an average of 4,766 vintage control and wine movement sheets are checked and coded. These are supplied by ageing wineries, wine keepers and cooperatives within the first 10 days of each month. The sheets —corresponding to an average 6,763 wine movements a month in 2014— were processed. Any anomalies found were immediately reported to the Empow-ered Overseers Service.

By the end of 2014, the number of members that use computerised wine movement sheets rose to 352, while the number of members requesting this system —which allows for computerised data exchange— grew steadily.

Simultaneously with movements, sales documents on sales on the export market (averaging 248 a month) are also submitted. These are process and allow the Board to compile

statistics on foreign sales of Rioja wine by country, type of winery, category and type of wine. These statistics, those of sales on the domestic market and summaries comparing current figures with those of the previous year are sent to the registered owners and associations every month.

With regard to the Register of Wineries, the records are permanently updated with information on additions, removals, changes of ownership, changes in ownership, container capacities and number and capacity of barrels in each winery.

After the harvest, the sworn winemaking statements from each winery are processed and the figures provided are checked against the figures of the Control Board Technical Service during harvest. After the approval process, non-qualified wines are controlled and monitored. Wine losses during barrel ageing were also checked.

Finally, it should be pointed out that ageing bodegas, wine keepers and cooperatives benefit from the section’s personal face-to-face and telephone support in solving queries and incidents that often arise regarding wine movements, stocks, regularisations, statistics, etc.

IT Section: Vineyards. The activities carried out by the Control Board Technical Service in this area took place chronologically as follows:

January – March: after concluding the checking and re-cording of data on harvest, production and vinification, and authorised grape and wine production reports were issued to winemakers, and the period for claims and queries was opened. After this, a harvest report is also sent to growers with information on approvals, and overproduction stocks. After all claims had been lodged and dealt with, new reports are issued.

April – June: after the abovementioned process, mainte-nance and updating tasks are again taken up on the Register of Vineyards.

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The files sent by the three Autonomous Communities regarding the Register of Vineyards (additions, removals, ownership changes, etc.), processing the data and returning signed copies to the stakeholders.

All vineyard owners who do not collect their grape grower’s card are requested in writing to explain the reason for this, and, when such reasons are not provided, the relevant vineyards are removed from the records.

July - August: after concluding the modifications to the Register of Vineyards, bills were issued and sent to the entities who distribute these and collect taxes. The documentation on vineyards processed during the harvest was scanned. Graphi-cal digitising of vineyard printed forms lasted until the end of the year.

September – October: claims regarding Grape Grower’s Cards were dealt with, and processing went ahead of the production of registered vineyards planted in 2012 that had been inspected by the Empowered Overseers Service. Cards were prepared for owners who do not have other vineyards in

production Ageing wineries, wine keepers and cooperatives were sent the harvest statement forms and lists were issued for 194 winegrower wine stocks.

November – December: 194 harvest and vinification statements submitted by winemaking winegrowers and 423 harvest statements submitted by firms (ageing wineries, wine keepers and cooperatives) were checked against the informa-tion obtained through the Harvest Terminals managing grape deliveries and the Grape Grower’s cards.

Throughout the year, 2,032 vine planting requests were processed from La Rioja, 371 from Alava and 214 from Navarre. These are submitted to the Control Board by the viticulture services of the three Autonomous Communities.

In addition to the above activities, face-to-face and telephone queries from growers were attended to at the Control Board offices, particularly just before and during harvest and during the period

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MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONActivity Reportsby department

The Marketing and Communication Department is respon-sible for the planning, co-ordination and management of the different promotional activities in which the Control Board is involved, in both the areas of publicity and of press and public relations. The department is responsible for planning and conducting publicity campaigns and promotional col-laboration with the media, and for creating and carrying out various initiatives to promote Rioja wines, organising its own events, sponsorships, attending fairs, organising winetasting courses, collaborating with other bodies involved in promot-ing wine, and so on.

As an important part of the Board’s communication strategy, permanent relations are maintained with the media through the Press Office, which issues more than one hundred press releases, reports and special joint publications every year, and deals on an individual basis with the numerous requests for information received from the media and trade

journalists.The Marketing and Com-

munications Department is also in charge of the Control

Board’s various publications (the CONSEJO newsletter, the annual

report, the web site and various pro-motional and informative materials,

which are re-edited and reprinted regu-larly due to high demand), managing the

Rioja Wine Information Office, located at the Control Board headquarters, and dealing

with the many people, both Span-ish and foreign, who visit the headquarters every day. It also plans and co-ordinates market

surveys and image surveys car-

ried out by specialist companies, and distributes the results.The Department’s action plan for communication focuses

mainly on achieving goals defined within the general commu-nications strategy approved by the Control Board Plenary:

e) To convey through the media an image of quality, diversity and innovation for Rioja wines with a continuous flow of information.

f) To improve the reputation of Rioja wine among consum-ers, disseminating those characteristics that best highlight its uniqueness.

g) To generate an attractive, modern image of Rioja wine which brings it closer to young consumers while promoting Responsible Drinking initiatives.

h) To consolidate the image of the Wine Region as the leader of the Spanish wine sector and of the Control Board as the body that represents it in all areas.

The dissemination of the differentiating aspects of our Wine Region, from viticulture to the vinification and sale of the wines, is based on key concepts. These include: the quality and originality of its grape varieties; the ageing potential of its wines; the quality assurance offered by a strict control sys-tem; the history of the area; its diversity and dynamic nature; and an intelligent balance between tradition and modernity —all of which ultimately helps highlight the uniqueness of Rioja compared to other wine regions in Spain and abroad.

Communication goals and strategies

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In 2014, the Control Board spent close to nine million euros on promotion. This is more than 65% of the total budget, this item being the only one that experienced a signifi-cant increase with regard to the previous year (12,5%). This unanimous decision of the producing and marketing sectors is in line with the significant commitment to strengthening the promotion of the Rioja brand as a whole in leading markets.

The goal is to strengthen the position of Rioja wine in the higher, value-added price-points, aiming the most significant budget items to markets with great potential for development, such as the United States, which is already the third importer of Rioja, and China, which has experienced exponential growth, as well as major Rioja importing countries which are mature markets, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Swit-zerland and Mexico, not to mention that Spain, where wine consumption has dropped alarmingly, remains Rioja’s first market, with more than 60% of total sales. The 2014 promo-tion plan also included actions in markets with perceived

opportunities for growth, such as Russia, where the first Rioja Wine Show was held.

The global strategy designed by the Control Board to improve the positioning of the Rioja brand in key strategic markets and consolidate the growth of exports in recent years has had as main line of communication the link between Rioja Wine and food, and more specifically, tapas. Key concepts to be transmitted through campaign messages focus on the qual-ity assurance and authenticity offered by the wine region, the great diversity of Rioja wines, constant innovation, Tempra-nillo as a key factor in their personality, their excellent value and the wine region’s traditions and reputation.

The main goal of the campaign is to enhance and earn renown for the Rioja brand, getting both professionals and consumers in each market to identify the value and attributes of the brand and differentiate it from others. Another strategic goal is to target campaigns to achieve greater point of sale visibility and presence for Rioja. In this sense, the D.O.Ca.

In September, the Control Board called a meeting of the Rioja promotion agencies in China, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States in order to prepare the D.O.Ca. Rioja campaigns for 2015.

More investment to improve the positioning of Rioja, with cuisine and tapas as communication hubs

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COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION

Rioja has become one of the leading regions in global brand awareness and in translating this awareness into purchases, according to the independent consultants Wine Intelligence.

Taking into account the peculiarities of each country, in general the institutional promotion of Rioja wines in domestic and foreign markets during 2014 was based on an integrated marketing strategy: public relations, advertising, media rela-tions and point of sale promotions. The most outstanding new aspect in this area is the renewed strength of the Internet and social media which have become a fundamental tool in promotional activities. The Rioja Control Board is currently at the forefront of social media in the wine industry, according to a survey undertaken by the communications consulting firm Castro Galiana.

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION ACTIVITIES

The D.O.Ca. Rioja shows its large export potential and excellent brand image in China

Three of China’s biggest cities welcomed the 3rd Grand Tasting of Rioja Wines, in which 70 Rioja wineries displayed the quality of their wines and excellent brand image to the more than 1,500 professionals attending these promotional events organised by the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja. Control Board representatives met with journalists, opinion leaders and authorities to discuss opportunities in the Chinese market. One of the main challenges is to position the Rioja brand and differentiate it from its biggest competitors in China, such as French and Chilean wines. In view of the challenge posed by differentiation, Lapuente said

Campaigns with international awards

Rioja triumphs in the marketing and PR ‘Oscars’ in the United States. The Rioja wine promotion cam-paign in the United States carried out by the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja was one of the most award-winning at the annual gala of the Silver Anvil Awards granted by the Public Relations Society of America, and recognized as the most renowned in the public relations and marketing industry in the country. Padilla CRT, the Agency in charge of the Vibrant Rioja campaign, received two 2014 Silver Anvil Awards of Excellence for the work and results of the campaign in the categories of Best Marketing Campaign for consumers in the beverage sector, and Best Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Associations category. The campaign also received a second prize in the category of Integrated Marketing in the food & beverage sector. The selection of the best campaigns is based on the quality of the strategic planning of marketing and communications, as

well as its implementation and final results. On this occasion, there were 850 campaigns, including major brands like Microsoft, AT&T, Mastercard, or Johnson&Johnson. For Pablo Olay, director of the Rioja campaign in the United States, “it is a great honour that the Rioja campaign has been one

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of those to receive the most awards, as it corroborates the great work that the Denominación de Origen Califica da Rioja and the team responsible for the campaign are carry-ing out in this country.”

The D.O.Ca. Rioja campaign rewarded in China. The D.O.Ca. Rioja received the award for ‘Best Wine Promotion Organisation’ in China, given by the magazine Sugar, Tobacco and Spirits Weekly, the country’s leading wine and spirits magazine. The prizes awarded in several categories valued the efforts in promoting wine and spirits in the period of maximum growth for the wine sector, i.e., dur-ing the past 10 years, which makes the award particularly significant, as it supports the work carried out and the im-pact of the campaign in the promotion of the D.O.Ca. Rioja, as well as its recognition in the market. The main goal of the campaign, which began at the end of 2011, is to educate both opinion leaders and consumers about the characteris-tics of Rioja wine. In addition to a specific promotion during the week of the Chinese New Year and the Organisation of exclusive Rioja shows in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, it also implemented a unique programme for training Rioja educators. .

that, as opposed to the competition, “Rioja offers wines with authenticity and truth, not only in regard to guarantees, but also because there is a surroundings and a story behind every bottle.” Actions to position Rioja in China as a prestige brand include, in addition to the Grand Tasting in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, training for professionals, consumer promotions for the Chinese New Year celebrations, Rioja Weeks in restaurants, and seminars and events wine lovers clubs in various cities.

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Switzerland: ‘Fashion Evening’

On 27 March 2014, the Centre of Zurich hosted the Fashion Night, with Rioja as official sponsor of the event for alcoholic beverages cooperating with two famous retailers —PKZWomen and SCHILD. The Rioja brand was present at the inaugural street parade as well as at tastings in shops, offering a tasting in a shop window with the journalist Shirley A. Amberg who sponsored the VIP area of the Club Hiltl, giving away a trip to the wine region for the most originally-dressed couple in the Fashion Party.

United States: Rioja & Tapas festival seduces New Yorkers’s palates

During the week of 28 April to 4 May, the D.O.Ca. Rioja employed it best weapon to conquer the U.S. market in New York. It organised a series of promotional activities linked to food, including the 2014 Rioja Wine and Tapas Festival, intended for end consumers, which managed to gather about 2,000 attendees to enjoy wines of some 70 wineries in Rioja

and tapas made by 20 New York chefs. The programme included a Grand Tasting of Riojas for professionals, Rioja seminars and tastings for consumers in 30 New York wine shops and restaurants and two meetings with specialist retailers and journalists in the U.S., which has already become the third largest importer of Rioja, with more than 13 million bottles sold in 2013.

78 wineries participated in the New York Rioja Week, represented by a large delegation comprising about 45 winemakers accompanied by the president of the Control Board, Luis Alberto Lecea, as well as the general director, José Luis Lapuente, and the board member Íñigo Torres.

United States: trade and hospitality promotion programme

In 2014, a nation-wide programme was deployed targeting on- and off-trade establishments to have an impact on the presence, perception, sales and image of Rioja wines in the United States. There were 25 online promotions reaching 400.000 consumers through 250 Rioja brands.

‘Rioja & Tapas’ in New YorkFashion Night in Switzerland

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29 programs were also carried out with national and state accounts, covering 641 shops and restaurants and reaching 205.000 consumers. Representatives of the major retail chains that took part in these programmes attended a gala dinner during Rioja Week NYC 2014, where they received a plaque in recognition of their support for Rioja. Also worth mentioning among the most prominent events and partners

of the 2014 Rioja campaign in the United States was the Milestone VIP Trade dinner at the Washington International Horse Show, Make A Wish Foundation of Southern Florida with Diana Ross, Charleston Food & Wine, Boston Wine EXPO and market share growth in New England, K & L Wines of California and SMITH & WOLLESNKY Steakhouses.

COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION Promotion in the international marketplace

Mexico moved by the Great Rioja Wines

Participation in the Morelia en Boca fair and the Roma Condesa Cultural Corridor, together with new promotions in the La Europea retail chain were some of the key activities in the 2014 Rioja promotional campaign in Mexico. The D.O.Ca. Rioja was an official sponsor at the Morelia en Boca food festival for the third year running. The festival has more than 3.500 attendees and internationally renowned chefs. The booth at the Villa Gourmet displayed 40 Rioja brands, with three guided tastings and a pairing dinner. POS promotions included the April sponsorship of the ‘Mexico Moved by great Wines’ festival in the more than 40 shops of the La Europea food chain, with a reach of close to four million. The festival included special tastings, evening sales, wine tastings, social events, a social media drive, graphic materials in shops, a special exhibition, campaign and coverage in media for promotion of the Rioja brand and the presence of forty participating Rioja brands.

Retailers during the 2014 Rioja Week NYC

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United Kingdom: the Rioja Tapas Fantásticas fes-tival again showcases the best Spanish cuisine in London

The seventh edition of the Rioja Tapas Fantásticas festival again earned an enthusiastic response from thousands of Londoners, who had the opportunity to enjoy Rioja wine and tapas, the most genuine representation of Spanish gastronomy in Potters Field, at the foot of London’s Tower Bridge. The most important promotional initiative organised by the Control Board in the main Rioja wine export market featured forty Rioja wineries and twelve London restaurants this year.

As in previous years, there were several seminars and tastings guided by two personalities who are very familiar to the British public: Olly Smith, taster, comedian and BBC presenter and Susy Atkins, critic for the Sunday Telegraph. Both journalists accompanied the renowned chef José Pizarro, who gave live cooking demonstrations which were a great success. He prepared potatoes with chorizo, croquettes and scallops, showing how well Rioja wines match these typical dishes. “Spanish cuisine cannot be more fashionable and Rioja is the region with the best variety of wines to accompany tapas,” said José Pizarro.

‘Rioja & Tapas’ in London

United Kingdom: rediscover Rioja with Imbibe

In 2014 Rioja launched a three-year partnership with the specialist on-trade publication Imbibe, implementing a programme focused on engaging with wine industry professionals. Among other initiatives, Rioja participated in Imbibe Live, an event that drew over 4,000 attendees in July, where a total of 48 wineries were represented by the Control Board. The renowned sommelier Ferran Centelles gave a masterclass on Rioja and five sommeliers won a trip to the D.O.Ca. Rioja accompanied by Imbibe journalist Clint Cawood..

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Rioja & Tapas début in Germany a great success

The D.O.Ca. Rioja launched its first Rioja & Tapas festival in Germany. The extremely successful event put a Spanish note to a distinctly naval weekend in Hamburg, the capital of the river Elbe, where more than 20,000 visitors passed through the ‘Rioja Gourmet Terrasen’ to enjoy wines from forty Rioja wineries and a select variety of Spanish tapas in a festive, marine atmosphere from 1 to 3 August. It was a new food experience for the annual cruise festival which brings together half a million visitors each year to gape at spectacular cruise ships from the seven most important companies in the world.

The Rioja Gourmet Terrasen space featured a Rioja-weinbar attended by trained staff, as well as an area called the Sommelier’s corner, where the renowned journalist David Schwarzwälder led several seminars to educate attendees about Rioja wines and their perfect pairing with food. Rioja was also the exclusive official wine at the inaugural gala dinner attended by German politicians, celebrities and journalists to celebrate the arrival at the port of Hamburg of 7 cruise ships from the most important cruise companies in the world. The dinner was held in the famous Skyline restaurant, with a panoramic view of the river, the port and the city of Hamburg.

After the success of Rioja and tapas events in London and New York, the model was exported for the first time

to Germany, a country which ranks second among Rioja importers.

Rioja wines also joined for the first time the celebration of one of the most crowded cultural festivals in Europe, the ‘Museumsuferfest’ (museum feast) in Frankfurt, which combined special museum programmes with music, theatre and culture and gastronomy from 29 to 31 August. The D.O.Ca. Rioja had an exclusive space called Rioja Gourmet Terrasen, where thousands of festival-goers tasted a wide variety of wines from 40 wineries which participated in the initiative, along with a food offer based on informal tapas and small servings.

Russia: A warm welcome for the first Rioja Wine exhibition in Moscow

The Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja made its first promotional foray into Moscow with the goal of exploring a market which, thanks to its exponential growth over the last five years, has become one of the ten largest importers of Rioja wine. The initiative was a great success with the participation of more than five hundred distributors, wholesalers, retailers and wine critics, who revealed that the D.O.Ca. Rioja is not a stranger to them and that the position and fame of its wines is already consolidated among Russian consumers. For the president of the Control Board, Luis Alberto Lecea, who attended on behalf of the institution

‘Rioja & Tapas’ in Hamburg Rioja wines in the Museumsuferfest’ (museum feast) in Frankfurt

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together with the director-general, José Luis Lapuente, “the show and the tasting were a total success and all of our expectations were met.”

The first Rioja Wine Show was held on 10 September at the Lumier Gallery, an avant-garde art centre in Moscow, located in the historic building of the former Red October chocolate factory, with the participation of 27 of the 51 wineries which currently export to Russia. Activities began with ‘the tasting of the Millennium: ten Reservas and Gran Reservas of excellent vintages of the 21st century’’, a seminar on Rioja for fifty journalists taught by the expert Leonid Gelibterman, President of the Moscow Wine and Food Centre, along with Egor Aleshko, 2009 Gold Nose in Russia and renowned St Petersburg sommelier.

United Kingdom: a tasting of Rioja wines of the leg-endary 1964 vintage enthuses British experts

The second edition of the Rioja Wine Show in London had a star activity consisting of a very special tasting of seven 1964 vintage wines to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of a vintage which is regarded as mythical in this wine region The renowned Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans said that for her it was a privilege to lead this tasting, as nothing had ever been done in the United Kingdom with such old wines. She said it was a great success. It was aimed at a select group of journalists and buyers from the United Kingdom. Proof of the great expectations prompted by this tasting among British experts was the attendance of such well-known opinion leaders in the world of wine as Jancis Robinson and Steven Spurrier. The tasting was necessary to strengthen the message of Rioja on the ageing capacity of its

‘Rioja & Tapas’ en Moscú

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Promotion in the international marketplace

The second edition of the Rioja Wine Show in London included a tasting of 7 wines of the 1964 vintage, legendary in Rioja. The tasting was led by Sarah Jane Evans, who was assisted by the Riojan sommelier Carlos Echapresto

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wine according to Sarah Jane Evans. She considers that the good ageing of these wines which are half a century old was reliably demonstrated. She also mentioned that it was easier to understand the ageing processes in these wines when you compare them with the modern wines tasted in the Show.

She was assisted by the Riojan sommelier Carlos Echapresto, technical coordinator of the tasting for selection and preservation of the wines. Evans said that the wines are still lively and fruity and show elegance and balance, with moderate alcohol content and great complexity. The president of the Control Board, Luis Alberto Lecea, highlighted the contrast between “the historical view of Rioja, with those long-aged wines that are unique in the world, and the range of current wines that our wineries brought to the show. Tradition and modernity united by a common quality denominator with a perfectly recognizable style and identity.”

The show was exclusively for professionals. Rioja winemakers and importers of 113 wineries offered more than 500 wines to the more than five hundred professionals who attended. These were mainly buyers for retail chains and key retailers in the United Kingdom, as well as journalists, importers, sommeliers, etc. In addition, there were five themed

tables featuring white wines, non-Tempranillo varietal wines, contemporary wines, Reserva wines and Gran Reserva wines.

A new feature aside from the 1964 vintage tasting was the three master-classes given by three experts. Tim Atkin, Master of Wine, led a wine tasting titled ‘Rioja, a sense of place’, with six wines representing the uniqueness of a particular vineyard. Sarah Jane Evans talked about diversity and quality in Rioja through its various categories. The Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn lectured about ‘Pairing Rioja with Food’.

Best Rioja salespersons in the United Kingdom

With the aim of involving the independent retailers, who represent a booming sector in wine retail sales in the United Kingdom, the Control Board launched an autumn promotional campaign with 100 wine shops scattered across the country. They all competed for the ‘Rioja retailer of the year’ award. After assessing the creativity of promotions and store materials, activity levels and the number of events created to support the promotion, as well as the growth in sales of Rioja achieved during the promotional period, Laithwaites

The United States celebrates its Tempranillo Day

The American association TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society), which brings together producers and friends of the Tempranillo grapes from the United States, organized for the fourth consecutive year the Tempranillo Day on Thursday 13 November, with a wide range of activities deployed by the D.O.Ca. Rioja. During the second half of November, the D.O.Ca. Rioja organised tastings, seminars and promotions in numerous points of sale around the country. These point of sale activities were supplemented by a communication campaign on social media and online publications in order to give visibility to the linking of Rioja with the grape variety that identifies it and helping turn it into the most famous Spanish wine region. Tempranillo is currently planted on about 200.000 hectares across the world, and is the fourth most planted grape variety.

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Promotion in the international marketplace

and Prohibition Wines were the winners in each of the two competition categories.

At the awards ceremony, the head of the Rioja promotion agency in the United Kingdom, Lottie West, underscored the importance of strengthening long-term relationships with independent retailers, as it is a strategic channel for sales of Rioja to grow in value in the United Kingdom, where export volume records have been consistently broken for several years. It is the channel that offers the greatest potential for growth in the mid term, both in volume and in value, according to Lottie West, for whom its national implementation allows Rioja to cover areas where there are good opportunities, particularly since London is a saturated market. Independent retailers are permanently open to adding new brands to their lists and they are ideal to educate British consumers who are interested in wine, as the shop owners are very active organising tastings and seminars.

As in previous occasions, the D.O.Ca. Rioja partnered with the trade publication Harpers Wine & Spirit for a

campaign in which, in addition to the 100 retailers, 90 Rioja wineries participated. A total of 200 tastings were organised for consumers. The initiative, along with well-established events like Rioja Tapas Fantásticas, is part of the promotional activities organised by the Control Board in the United Kingdom, currently Rioja’s most important overseas market. The 34,5 million litres exported to this country in the past 12 months account for about one-third of total Rioja exports.

Paul Shanley in the London wine bar, Prohibition Wines. Hundreds of wine shops in the United Kingdom competed for the Rioja retailer of the year award

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Promotional activities in SpainCOMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES IN SPAIN1st Rioja Tapas Competition for food journalists in Madrid Fusion

Four chefs with Michelin stars and six journalists staged the first cooking competition for food critics in the history of Madrid Fusion, an original initiative that was sponsored by the Control Board of the D.O. Calificada Rioja. The 1st International Rioja Tapas Competition allowed chefs Ramón Freixa, Sergi Arola, Susi Díaz and Mario Sandoval, accustomed to the stress of waiting for the opinion of journalists about their work, to get their own back by acting as jury panel of the tapas made by the journalists. The renowned Basque journalist and amateur cook Mikel Zeberio won the prize with his ‘meat sandwich’, a humble name that hid a delicate fillets of churra mutton, exquisitely prepared according to the highly-demanding jury panel.

Jacques Ballarin (food critic of the newspaper Sud-Ouest from Bordeaux and author of the guide “Le Ballarin”), Javier Masias (Peru), Jean Pierre Gabriel (Belgium), Cristina Jolonch (La Vanguardia) and Alberto Luchini (Metropolis), in addition to Mikel Zeberio (Diario de Noticias Deia group), showed their skills in the kitchen with different levels of risk, preparing tapas that went from Asian-inspired dishes, to a review of traditional calçots (grilled scallions), another one of gnocchi, one of ‘steak tartare’ and jerky on toast.

. 'Our favourite bars with Rioja’ in Gastrofestival Madrid 2014

Rioja wines participated through the initiative ‘Our favourite bars’ in the fifth edition of the Gastrofestival Madrid, with a full schedule of activities and culinary experiences from 24 January to 9 February in the capital of Spain.

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Nineteen renowned bars from various catering establishments participated in ‘Our favourite bars’, offering a glass of Rioja and an appetizer for 6 euros during the fifteen days of the Gastrofestival.

A Book and a Rioja: the pleasure of culture

The original initiative of the La Rioja Bookshop Association of celebrating Book Day by giving buyers a bottle of Rioja wine with every book they buy held its 18th anniversary in 2014. It has become a tradition that has enjoyed the support of the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja from the start. It is also sponsored by the La Rioja Economic Development Agency. ‘A book and a Rioja: the pleasure of culture’ is the slogan of a campaign that has the uniqueness of linking the culture of wine with reading and language, two cultures with deep roots in this region, where the first words were written in the Spanish language over a thousand years ago.

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More than 300 tapas bars involved in the initia-tive ‘Celebrate life with Rioja & Tapas’’

‘Celebrate life with Rioja & Tapas’ is an action promoted by the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja in five Spanish cities with the aim of promoting the culture and consumption of tapas associated with Rioja wine. The campaign took place during the months of May and June in Valencia, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Santiago, Barcelona and Madrid. For three weeks, the top bars in each city offered the public a selection of their best tapas accompanied by a glass of Rioja.

The participants were selected by a Committee of experts who assessed the culinary level of each establishment and how they treat wine, trying to offer consumers a wide range of bars, tapas, and types of Rioja wine. During the three weeks of the campaign, each bar offered its customers its best tapa, which they could combine with several brands of Rioja wine.

A sticker at the entrance of each establishment indicated that it participated in the activity.

Rioja whites offer “a perfect match” with cheese according to experts

The result of the pairing tasting of white Rioja wines with cheese was “a resounding success” according to its director, food journalist Enrique Calduch, who met in Madrid with a score of journalists specialising in wine and food to taste a selection of six white Rioja wines of different types and with seven Spanish cheeses and foreign vintages, each made in a different style. Most of the participants expressed their pleasure, both with the originality of the tasting and because of how interesting the combination resulted from a sensorial point of view. There was general agreement that pairing Rioja whites with cheese was very harmonious and that both contribute aromas and flavours that complement and enrich each other. For the tasting’s leaders —Enrique Calduch and the cheese specialist Guillermina Sanchez— “Rioja has a range of white wines of very high quality, from fruity young which pair perfectly with fresh cheeses of delicate acidity, through barrel-fermented and barrel-aged wines which can cope perfectly with old cheeses.” Participants also commented that Rioja whites have sufficient diversity to offer great pairing possibilities with avant-garde cuisine and the complex nuances that this entails.

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The Rioja Wine News Show was again attended by a large audience —nearly a thousand hospitality, distribution and communication professionals

Innovation, diversity, and sure value: 300 wines from 114 Rioja wineries confirm it

There are plans that have a special charm. One of them is to attend the Rioja Wine News Show, held annually for the past twenty years in Madrid’s literary district. The Palacio Neptuno hosted the wine event on Monday 27 October. Again with there was a massive response with nearly a thousand on-trade, distribution and communication professionals. As many qualified attendees expressed, the large sample of new vintages of the D.O. Calificada Rioja not only continues to surprise because of its magnitude, but once again confirms the great values that set Rioja apart from other designations of origin, such as innovation, a great diversity of wines and the sure value it means for consumers.

Some 300 wines from 115 wineries were presented. They are wines which came on the market in 2014. They are

of different categories and vintages of barrel-aged wines, the main hallmark of the D.O.Ca. Rioja. The wines presented were the 2011 Crianza, the 2010 Reserva and the 2008 Gran Reserva plus wines from older vintages that had been aged for longer periods at the discretion of each winery.

Chefs Mario Sandoval and Francis Paniego, created live delicious tapas for attendants at the Rioja Wine News Show

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It also included a section for other kinds of special wines which have been aged but which the wineries market with the generic guarantee of origin back label. This year, wines made exclusively from grapes other than Tempranillo —like Graciano and Garnacha— were presented as well as wines awarded in competitions.

In addition to show for professionals, for the second year a space was created for 200 VIP consumers, served by sommeliers who explained the features of the different wines being presented. Also new this year were culinary demonstrations were also given by the renowned chefs Mario Sandoval and Francis Paniego, who created live delicious tapas for attendees to enjoy.

In the twenty years since the Control Board organised this show for the first time in Madrid, it has come to be a showcase that has faithfully reflected the dizzying evolution of the wine world. In this context of change, Rioja has reaffirmed

his role as leader of Spanish wines and has managed to position itself among the historical designations of origin of most renowned and international influence. Synonymous with quality and innovation, Rioja has won this year the Spain Brand Leader award “for being one of the most universal brands of a national product.” In addition Rioja remains true to its history of pairing with cuisine and our culinary tradition par excellence, tapas, has joined this year through the campaign ‘Celebrate Life with Rioja & Tapas’, which aims to promote the culture and consumption of tapas associated with Rioja wine.

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The D.O.Ca Rioja celebrates the 50th anniversary of its legendary 1964 vintage

In 1964, you could only hear “She Loves You” by the Beatles on the radio, Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize, the famous comic star Mafalda was born and Rioja had one of the best vintages in its history, now a legend.

The tasting organized by the Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this great vintage has proved a memorable event and a great privilege according to the unanimous feedback of the more than fifty journalists and influentials who enjoyed the wines provided by eleven wineries for this tasting. The tasting evinced one of the most exclusive qualities of Rioja wine, its ageing potential, which is fulfilled in exceptional vintage such as the ‘64.

This tasting represented “a great opportunity to enjoy these exceptional wines, living legends of a wine history forged one vintage after another with a single goal, achieving the highest quality,” said the president of the Control Board, Luis Alberto Lecea at the presentation. This quality is based on the excellent work of grape growers and winemakers, but only when nature conspires with such work to offer perfect vintages such as the 1964.

The director of the tasting, Pedro Ballesteros, said that “it is a privilege for our country to have a region like Rioja, that allows us the luxury of opening 100 bottles of the 64 vintage and finding that practically all of them are good. We would not see so many brands with wines from the 1964 vintage in Bordeaux or Burgundy and in such great shape.” For this Master of Wine, ageing capacity has always been a criterion to evaluate quality and turn it into a unique product, different

Pedro Ballesteros, only Spanish Master of Wine, masterfully led the tasting together with La Rioja sommelier Carlos Echapresto (left), who was in charge of selecting, preserving and serving the wines. On the right, the President of the Rioja Control Board, Luis Alberto Lecea.

The eleven wines which participated in commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1964 vintage: Campo Viejo Reserva 1964, Conde de Los Andes Vintage 1964, Faustino Gran Reserva 1964, Honorable Gran Reserva 1964 by Gómez Cruzado, Marqués de Legarda Reserva 1964 by Bodegas de la Real Divisa, Marqués de Riscal Vintage 1964, Monte Real Gran Reserva 1964 by Bodegas Riojanas, Reserva Especial 1964 by CVNE, Reserva Especial 1964 by Martinez Lacuesta, Royal Reserva 1964 by Franco-Españolas, Viña Turzaballa Gran Reserva 1964 by Ramón Bilbao

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from any other food. “In a historical moment in which Spain wanted to be a developed country and quality wine was a minority, the 64 vintage became a turning point that made Rioja a classic.” Pedro Ballesteros also mentioned that these long ageing Riojas are collecting a growing interest on the part of collectors from all over the world, which has shot their prices up. “Great wine connoisseurs in Hong Kong, China, the USA and the United Kingdom love this type of wine, which is impossible to imitate. They are a cult object, a whim.”

The inimitable quality of Rioja wine and its great ageing capacity have contributed to its recognition in the international arena as one of the major European historic designations of origin. Very few regions in the world are able to offer, like Rioja, does those great wines from historic vintages, which sleep bottled for decades in the cellars of the Rioja wineries to become real oenological gems, legends mint condition over time.

On Monday 24 at the Hotel Wellington in Madrid, 70 journalists and influentials filled the places available for the tasting, which was necessarily restricted given the small amount of wine avail-able in the wineries.

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‘Celebrate life with Rioja & Tapas’ campaign

Within the framework of the campaign ‘Celebrate life with Rioja & Tapas’, a total of 40 gastrobars of the Gourmet Experience sections of El Corte Inglés in eight Spanish cities offered their most exclusive tapa accompanied by Rioja from 24 November to 22 December. A ‘weekend experience’ for two people in Rioja was drawn among the customers of the gastrobars.

Also within the initiative ‘Celebrate life with Rioja & Tapas’, the Control Board convened in September to organised a competition among the establishments in Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga, Santiago, Valencia to choose the best Rioja tapa in each city. The jury, consisting of food critics and chefs, examined the presentation, taste, originality and pairing with a selected Rioja wine and the winning bar in

each city was featured on Pepe Ribagorda’s TV show. The best tapa in Madrid, consisting of a delicious

meatball from Hacienda Rubaiyat, marrow and Rioja wine, was prepared by chef Carlos Valenti of Rubaiyat. Macellum was the winner in Valencia with a creation by Alejandro Platero: French toast of fried green peppers with smoked sardine. The winning tapa in Barcelona was a roast duck and foie cannelloni with a truffle and pistachio sauce, a delight presented by Andreu Graupera. In Santiago de Compostela the chosen tapa was a bluefish sashimi on a white almond and garlic sauce with rice noodles. The author was Siro González of Caney Copas & Tapas. And finally in Malaga, Regina Llinares of Garum Casual captivated the jury with her baby squid stuffed with leek and prawn on a Rioja-style potato.

The winning bar in each city of the competition for the best tapa in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Santiago and Valen-cia was featured in Pepe Ribagorda’s TV food show

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Dissemination and training resources

LThe tasting courses in Spanish universities are part of the Rioja wine culture dissemination programme for young people, launched in 1999 by the Control Board. They are carried out together with the student councils of each university and teachers with expertise in the wine industry. A total of three courses were taught in 2014 at the University of Palencia (7 March), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (4 April) and Centro Universitario de Teruel (6 May).

Control Board technicians have been teaching beginners’ winetasting courses since June 1998. The courses are held at the headquarters of the Control Board on Saturday mornings from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and cost €18. A total of 12 courses were taught in 2014 to 154 students from various locations and of various nationalities. The Rioja Wine Information Office is located at the headquarters of the Rioja

Control Board and, since it was created in 1993, the number of visitors attended to and the amount of information sent worldwide grown continuously.

Control Board publications

Two print and online issues of the CONSEJO Newsletter were published in 2014. The purpose of this newsletter is to reinforce communication between the Control Board and growers and winemakers. The Annual Report is a complete collection that describes the activities carried out by the Control Board and provides a vision of the current situation of the D.O.Ca. Rioja with the most significant statistics. The official Control Board website (www.riojawine.com) is permanently updated with contents that provide a complete view of the D. O. Ca. Rioja. The Control Board also has informative and promotional material in several languages

Presentation of the D.O.Ca. Rioja 2013 Annual Report to the communications managers

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Press and buyers trips to Rioja

The Control Board organised 16 press and buyers’ trips to Rioja in 2014, with a total of 74 visitors, of which 15 were journalists, 50 buyers and sommeliers, and 9 end consumers from 7 countries. 137 wineries were visited on these trips, giving an average of 8,5 wineries per trip, with visitors staying in Rioja for 5 days on average. The most salient visits include those of the Spanish wine buyer of the Swedish monopoly, Anders Barren; a group of Food and Beverage directors from 9 different locations of the North American LOEWS Hotels chain; the editors of I wine review; 20 retailers from the United Kingdom and the winners in the Rioja promotion held in Spanish restaurants in Moscow during the month of September.

Sponsorship and cooperation

The Control Board participated in numerous national and international events, making a financial contribution, contributing information materials, providing generic wines, offering tastings through the Control Board technicians, or by lending its facilities. Some of the most relevant events sponsored by the Control Board included the 2014 Radio Academy Awards, the Rioja Alavesa Harvest Festival and its Rioja Wine competition, the ‘Rioja, young and fresh’ initiative, organised by the Vocento Group in La Rioja, the fair at El Puerto de Santa María, and the National Agricultural Law Conference. The Control Board headquarters also hosted Rioja wine promotional activities promoted by other entities, like the twentieth Rotary Solidarity Tasting and the Fundación Caja Rioja Cosechero Wine Competition.

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SALES BALANCE

Rioja wine followed the positive trend started in 2013. According to the final balance announced by the Control Board, sales grew by five million bottles in 2014, placing the wine region at a new all-time record with a total of 281 million litres. Exports continued driving sales, although at a somewhat slower pace (+3.6%) than in previous years. Barrel-aged wines, and whites concentrated all of of the growth (+2.66% and +13.67% respectively). The Spanish market remained stable, which is considered a positive outcome in view of the current financial downturn and drop in wine consumption. In 2014, the D.O. Calificada Rioja sold a total of 280,789,424 million litres of wine —90% being red wine (253.5 ML), while the remainder is divided between rosé (12.42 ML) and white. The latter experienced the greatest growth (+13.67%), with sales of 14.85 ML.

The main keys to this positive evolution in a general context of financial difficulties and strong international competition include the recognition earned by Rioja wines in major consumer countries, as shown by a poll carried out in 2014 by the British consultants Wine Intelligence. As with the last poll from five years ago, the survey results again place the D.O. Ca. Rioja among the wine regions of the world with the highest visibility and loyalty ratios —an aspect in which Rioja occupies the leading position in some countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, the two leading Rioja importers. The wineries’ capability for innovation and the whole industry’s commitment to quality have driven its growing international visibility.

We should also underscore the wisdom of Rioja’s strategy of setting as its main goal the specialisation in high added

value categories and turning barrel-aged wines into its spearhead. The Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva categories provide a differential personality and solid reputation. This was demonstrated again in 2014, with the great success of ancient Rioja vintages like the 1964 at tastings held with the international wine press.

Sales of barrel-aged wines continue to grow

Looking at 2014 Rioja sales by ageing category, the group of barrel-aged reds (Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva categories) grew by more than four million litres, reaching a total of 156.29 ML. This figure represents 62% of total red wine sales, a percentage that continues to increase

year after year. This is mainly due to a specialisation strategy which has enabled Rioja to get a better position in added value segments compared to its competitors.

Red Crianza wine is the best-selling Rioja category, with 103.9 ML and a

2.14 percent increase, further distancing it from generic-label wines, which stand at 97.2 ML and a 1.42% drop. This distance is particularly significant in the Spanish market, where Rioja sells 80 ML of Crianza red versus 58 ML of young red.

Just as in 2013, Gran Reserva wines (6.68 ML) experienced the largest ever rise in sales in 2014 particularly in the Spanish market (up 50%). The Reserva category continued growing as in previous years, although at a somewhat more moderate rate (+ 2.70%), with total sales to 45.7 ML, 62% of which were sold in foreign markets.

Rioja sales grow by five million bottles in 2014 hitting new 281 million litre record

Exports grew by 3.6% and reached 105 million litres, which accounts for 37.6%

of total sales

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SALES BALANCE

Exports, growth support

Rioja sales abroad reached 105 million litres in 2014, accounting for 37.6% of total sales. Although export growth (3,6%) was lower than in the past few years, in view of the competitive situation and economic instability which affects the majority of markets, last year’s performance can be considered very positive —and truly excellent in some markets such as the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, which experienced the highest growth.

The top-ranking importers continued to be the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and Switzerland in that order. These four countries absorb more than 70% of the Rioja’s exports. The United Kingdom strengthened its position as leading importer and currently accounts for 34.19% of Rioja sales abroad, with a total of 36.16 ML in 2014, up 10.3% from the previous year. Exports to Germany also grew —by 2.18% for total sales of 18.79 ML. In the United States, which had experienced significant growth over the last few

years, sales suffered a slight drop (-1.7%) in 2014, with total sales of 10.27 ML. Sales also fell in some traditional Rioja markets like the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. The highest rise in sales (+ 27.61%) took place in Mexico, which

now occupies 8th place among Rioja importers, while Canada and Russia, joined the top ten last year, standing at 9th and 10th place with 10% and 12.30% of sales respectively.

Spain continues to be the main market for Rioja, accounting for 62.4% of total sales, consolidating the growth

trend of 2013 with a sales volume of 175 million litres. Noteworthy is the 28% growth of white wine sales, while red wines with the generic back label dropped by 7%, although this loss was offset by an increase in all barrel-aged categories.

Barrel-aged Riojas represent 62% of red wine

sales and, together with whites, account for total

growth.

DEVELOPMENT OF RIOJA WINE SALES 1985-2014 (IN LITRES)

DOMESTIC MARKETEXPORT MARKET

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NIELSEN REPORTON THE SPANISH WINE MARKET

Rioja strengthens its position on the quality wine market with a higher-value offer

The evolution of wine drinking in Spain in 2014 resulted in the first positive figures in many years, and this could be interpreted as a change in trends, according to a poll by the consulting firm Nielsen. In this context of recovery, the balance of Rioja can also be considered positive. A rise in sales of aged wines has led to a higher average value and Rioja has expanded its overwhelming on-trade leadership, achieving a market share close to 80% in Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva red wines.

It is certainly good news for the Spanish wine industry as a whole that, for the first time in many years the continued decline in wine consumption in Spain has stopped and even experienced a slight growth. In the opinion of the person responsible for the survey at Nielsen, Ángel García, this could well bring about a change in trends. It is particularly promising for Rioja that this

rise in consumption has taken place in the on-trade channel, a key outlet both for this wine region and for other quality wines protected by the various designations of origin. The evolution of consumer preferences towards quality —and therefore, higher value added— wines continued in 2014 with a 3% growth in D.O. wine sales, compared to a 2.6% drop in wines without a geographical indication.

This favourable environment in the Spanish wine market is a challenge and a great opportunity for Rioja to continue leading and growing in the near future in line with its current strategy aimed at value growth. This was confirmed by the performance of Rioja wine in 2014. Higher sales of aged wines increased

the overall value of the Rioja offer, with better positioning at higher price points. The rise in value has affected the complete range of wines and this has logically resulted in a

After years of decline, wine consumption in Spain

shows slight growth that could point to a change in

trends.

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drop in sales of young reds, as a result of competing, lower-priced wines from other wine regions. Nonetheless, losses were offset by increased aged red wine sales.

It is particularly noteworthy that the D.O.Ca. Rioja has managed to increase its already overwhelming leadership in sales of barrel-aged red wines —those with the highest added value. Although it seemed difficult to achieve, the Rioja Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva categories reached a 78.5% market share in the on trade (eight out of ten bottles!) which is five percentage points higher than four years ago. The next best-selling designation of origin has a market share of 8.3%. The change in trends observed in the on-trade directly affects the evolution of Rioja, given the dominant position of this wine region in such an important channel for marketing quality wines.

If we consider the sales of designation of origin wines as a whole, Rioja wine performed consistently in 2014, maintaining the sales volume of 2013, when it recovered its positive trend after a four-year recession. The global market

share of Rioja among wines with a designation of origin is maintained at around 35%, twenty-five percentage points from the next designation of origin.

Rioja has also experienced a positive evolution in white wine consumption in recent years with a 7.9% rise in sales in 2014, practically in line with the 10% overall growth in the market for this type of wine. In red wines —Rioja’s main reference as they represent 90% of its production— the market share of this wine region among D.O. wines is 47% (39% off-trade and 57% on-trade).

In terms of regional sales, according to the Nielsen poll, Rioja wines are present in practically the totality of Spanish markets, with weighted distribution levels equal or close to 100% both off- and on-trade. Rioja wine is consumed most in North-Central Spain (Basque Country, Cantabria, Navarre) with 31.1% of sales and a 51% market share. This is followed by Southern Spain, which concentrates 15.7% of Rioja sales and also shows a very high market share among D.O. wines (43%).

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REPORTon the 2014 harvestin the D.O.Ca. RIOJA

The Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja has officially rated the 2014 vintage ‘Good’. The wineries of the Designation of Origin produced a total of 312.89 million litres. This is the average rating of the wines that passed a strict approval process applied to 4,383 samples. These were taken directly from the wineries’ tanks by Control Board personnel and subjected to laboratory and sensory tests. 293.52 million litres were ultimately approved (20.37 white, 14.99 rosé and 258.15 red).

The 2014 vintage shows a quantitative and qualitative improvement over last year. After a growing cycle with very favourable weather, Riojan vineyards showed excellent canopy development and plant health at the end of the ripening stage. This pointed to a great harvest in terms of both quality and quantity but adverse weather during the harvest only allowed forecasts to be partially fulfilled. Largely, it can be said that these expectations have been met, and this is reflected in the ‘GOOD’ rating, the result of wide heterogeneity in the wines. Nonetheless, there is a significant percentage of top quality wines which is sufficient to meet the requirements of aged wine categories. Particularly notable is the excellent quality

of this vintage’s rosés and whites, and aspect on which all 140 members of the Control Board Tasting Panel unanimously concur.

Coinciding with the thirtieth vintage since the implementation of the official vintage rating plan in Rioja, the Control Board has taken a further step in ensuring the utmost

guarantees in the certification process —fundamental in turning Rioja wine into a quality wine benchmark. A new sensorial assessment process was put in place this year employing cutting-edge technology and applying new protocols in selecting

and training the members of the rating Tasting Panel.The organoleptic assessment of each sample is carried

out with a computer application available to each taster on a tablet with the official OIV tasting form. This offers a significant advantage compared to completing the tasting forms by hand. It also provides results in real time, enabling the statistical analysis of a large volume of data. Over 7,500 samples are taken every year and subjected to lab tests and sensorial tastings. The samples are of both new wines and other wines taken at wineries and points of sale on the main markets.

2014 Vintage rated Good with more quantity and better quality than last year

Control Board Tasting Panel unanimous about superb quality of 2014

whites and rosés

DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTICAL RATING PARAMETERS FOR RED WINES 2001/2014

PARAMETERS 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Alcohol content (% Vol.) 13.26 13.28 13.28 13.49 13.30 13.60 13.37 13.27 13.80 13.75 14.19 13.42 13.56 13.55

Total Acidity - tartaric (g/l) 5.13 5.42 4.99 5.79 5.13 5.23 5.33 5.34 5.04 5.14 5.14 4.94 5.56 5.16

pH 3.68 3.70 3.68 3.61 3.66 3.71 3.63 3.70 3.72 3.72 3.74 3.77 3.70 3.68

Volatile acidity - acetic (g/l) 0.47 0.51 0.50 0.43 0.42 0.49 0.39 0.42 0.47 0.43 0.49 0.44 0.44 0.46

Total SO2 (mg/l) 45.48 44.83 54.08 43’87 39.85 47.93 40.14 40.49 43.84 40.51 45.52 46.92 47.67 52.03

Colour Index (A420 + A520 +A620 9.80 9.38 7.34 10.14 12.38 10.42 11.81 11.60 11.33 12.52 13.39 11.96 9.79 9.51

Total Polyphenol Index (TPI) 50.63 52.78 50.61 55.46 58.70 56.91 55.89 56.74 59.71 59.62 64.14 63.81 56.44 52.99

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In addition to its own technical staff, the Control Board has a Tasting Panel comprised of 140 renowned professional tasters. Both access to the Tasting Panel and permanence in it are restricted by a highly-demanding exam and individual follow-up. This ensures uniformity in tasting criteria.

The special condition of ‘Calificada’ bestowed upon the Rioja Designation of Origin requires that all wines made be subjected to exhaustive tests. Each tank of wine in each winery is sampled, providing highly reliable figures to base the final vintage rating, which is issued by the Rioja Control Board. This final rating is obtained through statistical calculations to ensure it is totally objective.

The 2014 Vintage certification and rating process began in November. Samples were taken by the Control Board Empowered Overseers Service in all the wineries that make wine. The samples are taken from batches of no more than 100,000 litres. The samples were then analysed at the laboratories of one of the three Designation of Origin Oenological Research Stations and assessed by the Control Board tasting committees. The requirements of the certification process have become stricter in recent years, with more demanding parameters seeking to maintain Rioja as a quality wine benchmark in all markets.

Total grape production surface area in the region for 2014 was 61.645 hectares, two hundred less than the previous vintage. Of these, 57.761 hectares are planted with red grape varieties —which produced 398 million kg— and 3.884 hectares with white grape varieties— whose produc-

THE 2014 HARVEST

On 21 October, the Control Board announced the official end of a harvest that had begun on 30 August in the eastern-most town of the Wine Region, Alfaro. The harvest had gradually accelerated until the first week of October, which is usually the most intensive harvesting period in Rioja. During this period, more than 300 million kg of grapes arrived at the crush pads in excellent condition. The last third of the harvest was affected by bad weather. This required Rioja growers to once again show how well prepared they are to face such situations and get the best out of each plot through selective harvesting. Adverse effects were minimised in most vineyards which had received appropriate treatment —cluster thinning, leaf plucking, etc.

Rioja Winein figures

Statistics2014

1. DEVELOPMENT OF VITICULTURE AND WINEMAKING IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA

Productive vineyards (Hectares)

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

43,074 42,898 44,079 45,751 47,192 47,346 47,346 47,765 48,381 49,135

Certified production (Millions of litres) 161.24 145.34 149.94 173.92 168.85 217.91 244.47 253.6 273.56 216.24

Yield (Hectolitres/ Hectares) 37.43 33.88 34.02 38.01 35.78 46.03 51.63 53.09 56.54 44.01

Sales

(millions of litres)

Domestic market 77.75 99.70 114.35 120.19 139.61 125.78 119.07 137.46 150.70 138.68

Foreign markets 26.03 29.14 34.29 38.72 56.75 59.12 58.85 67.78 71.55 56.80

Total sales 103.78 128.84 148.64 158.91 196.36 184.90 177.92 205.24 222.25 195.48

Stocks

on 31 December

(millions of litres)

Previous years 315.91 335.32 317.60 296.57 268.21 246.89 281.90 314.95 339.27 408.58

Last harvest 161.24 144.99 149.24 173.71 166.42 214.12 240.60 250.20 270.60 215.60

Total stocks 477.15 480.31 466.84 470.28 434.63 461.01 522.50 565.15 609.87 624.18

Stocks-to-sales ratio 4.28 3.39 2.87 2.76 2.13 2.41 2.84 2.68 2.65 3.08

Total no. of bottling wineries 310 324 336 345 363 372 386 401 403 422

Number of ageing wineries 103 120 131 141 148 153 156 171 180 203

Number of barrels (thousands) 547 561 573 584 597 598 621 660 815 911

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

52,029 53,820 55,545 56,580 58,132 59,212 60,390 60,773 60,882 61,270 61,960 62,143 62,153 61,840 61.645

310.80 242.00 196.82 298.42 269.7 273.94 278.18 273.68 272.12 277.56 255.90 267.65 245.70 253.44 295,16

59.74 44.96 35.43 52.74 46.39 46.26 46.06 45.03 44.70 45.3 41.30 43.07 39.53 40.98 47,88

120.12 160.01 178.15 170.21 182.28 179.44 182.87 187.02 172.00 163.67 181.26 176.99 169.45 174.98 175,00

39.86 60.41 72.10 66.14 69.01 71.23 78.93 84.59 79.91 72.43 85.86 91.92 96.97 102.18 105,79

159.98 220.42 250.25 236.35 251.29 250.67 261.80 271.61 251.91 236.1 267.12 268.91 266.42 277.16 280,79

459.42 539.50 524.42 478.77 515.72 529.63 535.54 537.05 554.20 583.88 587.67 568.81 563.69 525.30 491,58

309.81 241.84 195.54 295.76 268.42 273.06 277.37 272.21 271.60 276.71 254.93 266.88 244.51 252.49 293,20

769.23 781.34 719.96 774.53 784.14 802.69 812.91 809.26 825.80 860.59 842.60 835.69 808.20 777.79 784,78

4.62 3.39 2.78 3.17 3.02 3.13 3.03 2.91 3.19 3.54 3.07 3.03 2.96 2.74 2,72

443 472 498 517 550 559 586 595 596 603 572 583 581 587 600

222 255 272 286 306 324 349 364 376 371 375 382 386 392 403

939 1,005 1,061 1,080 1,106 1,161 1,197 1,239 1,261 1,286 1,292 1,290 1,278 1,262 1.284

GRAPE GROWING AND WINERY STATISTICS:

1. DEVELOPMENT OF VITICULTURE AND WINEMAKING IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA

2. CERTIFIED RIOJA GRAPE PRODUCTION - 2014 HARVEST

3. VINIFICATION OF CERTIFIED WINE - 2014 VINTAGE (LITRES)

4. DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACE AREA, GRAPE PRODUCTION, YIELDS AND WINE PRODUCTION

5. DISTRIBUTION OF VINEYARDS IN PRODUCTION BY TOWN AND BOTTLING WINERIES

6. VINEYARDS BY GRAPE VARIETY AND COMMUNITY - 2014 (HECTARES)

7. VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY AND YEAR OF PLANTING (IN HECTARES)

8.DEVELOPMENT OF REGISTERED VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA (HECTARES)

9. DISTRIBUTION OF VINEYARDS BY PLOT SIZE - 2014

10.NUMBER OF GRAPE GROWERS 2014

11. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS ON 31-12-2014 (HECTOLITRES)

12. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS BY TYPE OF CONTAINER ON 31-12-2014 (HECTOLITRES)

13. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS BY VINTAGE ON 31-12-2014 (HECTOLITRES)

14. DEVELOPMENT OF BARREL NUMBERS

15.WINERIES REGISTERED IN RIOJA ON 31-12-2014

16. REGISTERED RIOJA WINERIES BY CAPACITY AND SALES RANGES ON 31-12-2014 (MILLION LITRES)

17. DEVELOPMENT OF STORAGE AND AGEING CAPACITY OF RIOJA WINERIES (LITRES)

SALES STATISTICS:

18. DEVELOPMENT OF RIOJA WINE SALES 1985-2014 (LITRES)

19. RIOJA WINE SALES STATISTICS FOR 2014 (BY CATEGORY AND TYPE OF WINE)

20. 2014 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

52,029 53,820 55,545 56,580 58,132 59,212 60,390 60,773 60,882 61,270 61,960 62,143 62,153 61,840 61.645

310.80 242.00 196.82 298.42 269.7 273.94 278.18 273.68 272.12 277.56 255.90 267.65 245.70 253.44 295,16

59.74 44.96 35.43 52.74 46.39 46.26 46.06 45.03 44.70 45.3 41.30 43.07 39.53 40.98 47,88

120.12 160.01 178.15 170.21 182.28 179.44 182.87 187.02 172.00 163.67 181.26 176.99 169.45 174.98 175,00

39.86 60.41 72.10 66.14 69.01 71.23 78.93 84.59 79.91 72.43 85.86 91.92 96.97 102.18 105,79

159.98 220.42 250.25 236.35 251.29 250.67 261.80 271.61 251.91 236.1 267.12 268.91 266.42 277.16 280,79

459.42 539.50 524.42 478.77 515.72 529.63 535.54 537.05 554.20 583.88 587.67 568.81 563.69 525.30 491,58

309.81 241.84 195.54 295.76 268.42 273.06 277.37 272.21 271.60 276.71 254.93 266.88 244.51 252.49 293,20

769.23 781.34 719.96 774.53 784.14 802.69 812.91 809.26 825.80 860.59 842.60 835.69 808.20 777.79 784,78

4.62 3.39 2.78 3.17 3.02 3.13 3.03 2.91 3.19 3.54 3.07 3.03 2.96 2.74 2,72

443 472 498 517 550 559 586 595 596 603 572 583 581 587 600

222 255 272 286 306 324 349 364 376 371 375 382 386 392 403

939 1,005 1,061 1,080 1,106 1,161 1,197 1,239 1,261 1,286 1,292 1,290 1,278 1,262 1.284

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3. VINIFICATION OF CERTIFIED WINE - 2014 VINTAGE (LITRES)

COMMUNITY TYPE OF WINERY RED ROSE WHITE TOTAL

ÁLAVA

WINEGROWERS 6,757,370 6,346 119,167 6,882,883

CO-OPERATIVES 8,575,885 192,035 518,105 9,286,025

WINE KEEPERS 1,508,432 6,203 167,337 1,681,972

AGEING WINERIES 52,781,216 2,164,739 4,358,570 59,304,525

TOTAL 69,622,903 2,369,323 5,163,179 77,155,405

LA RIOJA

WINEGROWERS 4,590,889 222,666 350,824 5,164,379

CO-OPERATIVES 62,983,123 3,388,360 5,895,257 72,266,740

WINE KEEPERS 2,706,452 195,993 84,260 2,986,705

AGEING WINERIES 106,092,703 8,174,420 7,771,095 122,038,218

TOTAL 176,373,167 11,981,439 14,101,436 202,456,042

NAVARRE

WINEGROWERS 0 0 0 0

CO-OPERATIVES 5,547,864 414,141 302,465 6,264,470

WINE KEEPERS 0 0 0 0

AGEING WINERIES 8,167,098 290,799 830,774 9,288,671

TOTAL 13,714,962 704,940 1,133,239 15,553,141

TOTAL

WINEGROWERS 11,348,259 229,012 469,991 12,047,262

CO-OPERATIVES 77,106,872 3,994,536 6,715,827 87,817,235

WINE KEEPERS 4,214,884 202,196 251,597 4,668,677

AGEING WINERIES 167,041,017 10,629,958 12,960,439 190,631,414

TOTAL 259,711,032 15,055,702 20,397,854 295,164,588

Those wines which have not passed the approval process will be discounted from these production figures

2. CERTIFIED RIOJA GRAPE PRODUCTION - 2014 HARVEST

Hectares of red grapes

LA RIOJA ÁLAVA NAVARRE TOTAL

39,183.81 12,290.37 6,287.28 57,761.47

Production of red grapes (kg) 262,619,317 81,558.119 42,675,967 386,853,403

Red grape yields (kg/ha) 6,702 6,636 6,788 6,697

Hectares of white grapes 2,600.54 914.51 368.50 3,883.56

Production of white grapes (kg) 23,609,515 8,241,012 3,308,695 35,159,222

White grape yields (kg/ha) 9,079 9,011 8,979 9,053

Totalwhite& red

Hectares 41,784.35 13,204.89 6,655.78 61,645.03

Production (kg) 286,228,832 89,799,131 45,984,662 422,012,625

Average Yields 6,850 6,800 6,909 6,846

STATISTICS

71

4. DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACE AREA, GRAPE PRODUCTION, YIELDS AND WINE PRODUCTION

YEARPRODUCTIVE HECTARES PRODUCTION IN KG Average

yields (kg/ha)

Certified

vinification (litres)Red White Total

1985 29,903 9,094 38,817 241,296,770 6,319 173,346,717

1986 29,936 9,079 39,015 173,529,246 4,448 119,830,258

1987 30,206 9,065 39,271 186,151,310 4,740 133,749,709

1988 33,049 8,997 42,046 180,410,559 4,291 131,082,102

1989 33,851 8,840 42,691 223,279,641 5,230 160,609,524

1990 34,182 8,669 42,851 225,635,498 5,266 161,242,940

1991 34,381 8,509 42,889 213,410,823 4,976 145,345,353

1992 35,848 8,227 44,075 214,637,991 4,870 149,938,412

1993 37,528 8,247 45,775 249,738,789 5,456 173,920,771

1994 38,955 8,238 47,193 241,689,232 5,121 168,843,546

1995 39,267 8,090 47,357 303,643,224 6,412 217,910,968

1996 39,378 7,923 47,301 340,408,707 7,197 244,468,446

1997 39,920 7,844 47,764 359,612,606 7,529 253,574,457

1998 40,679 7,709 48,388 386,776,917 7,993 273,560,471

1999 42,522 7,484 50,006 305,342,334 6,106 216,241,745

2000 44,676 7,339 52,015 490,669,779 9,431 310,801,915

2001 46,999 6,799 53,798 367,989,290 6,848 242,347,992

2002 49,459 6,086 55,545 284,289,535 5,118 196,823,899

2003 51,194 5,386 56,580 437,607,739 7,734 298,418,768

2004 53,161 4,975 58,136 472,281,522 8,124 269,695,002

2005 54,567 4,645 59,212 445,091,696 7,517 273,940,000

2006 55,931 4,458 60,389 421,440,239 6,979 278,180,000

2007 56,569 4,204 60,773 412,617,538 6,789 273,687,537

2008 56,825 4,057 60,882 396,622,326 6,515 272,118,653

2009 57,344 3,926 61,270 412,387,909 6,731 277,558,000

2010 58,109 3,851 61,960 395,196,593 6,378 255,904,080

2011 58,375 3,768 62,143 387,618,868 6,238 267,647,691

2012 58,389 3,764 62,153 354,904,866 5,710 245,704,466

2013 58,026 3,814 61,840 368,421,839 5,958 253,441,316

2014 57,761 3,884 61,645 434,006,506 7,040 295,164,588

PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS

72


LA RIOJAHectares Wineries

LA RIOJAHectares Wineries

RED WHITE RED WHITE

ABALOS 660.43 33.71 16 CIDAMON 60.83 0 0

AGONCILLO 160.15 2.20 1 CIHURI 332.90 15.04 0

AGUILAR DEL RÍO ALHAMA 40.48 0 0 CIRUEÑA 26.59 1.55 0

ALBELDA DE IREGUA 131.72 29.83 3 CLAVIJO 167.27 4.80 0

ALBERITE 235.47 14.14 3 CORDOVIN 55.70 26.79 10

ALCANADRE 485.66 13.94 4 CORERA 169.47 3.60 1

ALDEANUEVA DE EBRO 1,382.30 10.26 16 CORNAGO 15.50 0 0

ALESANCO 394.58 135.67 4 CUZCURRITA DEL RÍO TIRON 527.29 55.04 6

ALESON 207.21 22.41 1 DAROCA DE RIOJA 11.55 0.3 0

ALFARO 3,655.75 85.07 7 ENTRENA 616.54 77.22 5

ANGUCIANA 50.23 1.52 0 FONCEA 14.60 0 0

ARENZANA DE ABAJO 227.75 28.10 4 FONZALECHE 288.03 16.04 1

ARENZANA DE ARRIBA 172.09 13.18 0 FUENMAYOR 1,466.53 69.14 27

ARNEDILLO 2.11 0 0 GALBARRULI 129.25 2.96 1

ARNEDO 325.54 4.26 2 GALILEA 169.45 5.00 1

ARRUBAL 4.97 0 0 GIMILEO 97.46 3.49 1

AUSEJO 1,468.36 28.35 2 GRÁVALOS 24.01 7.92 0

AUTOL 948.04 14.11 2 HARO 1,044.30 82.91 19

AZOFRA 399.49 31.03 1 HERCE 79.66 0.45 0

BADARAN 412.74 54.14 6 HERRAMELLURI 9.29 0 0

BAÑARES 96.36 0.19 0 HERVIAS 37.98 0.94 1

BAÑOS DE RIOJA 68.98 13.14 1 HORMILLA 298.15 22.29 6

BAÑOS DE RIO TOBIA 152.57 36.27 4 HORMILLEJA 192.10 20.85 1

BERCEO 11.98 0.63 0 HORNOS DE MONCALVILLO 140.13 24.27 1

BERGASA 221.99 7.70 0 HUERCANOS 1,154.90 79.87 2

BERGASILLAS BAJERA 7.60 0.01 0 IGEA 112.70 0 0

BEZARES 3.61 0.05 0 LAGUNILLA DE JUBERA 130.71 3.60 1

BOBADILLA 18.62 2.15 2 LARDERO 61.46 2.80 0

BRIÑAS 96.77 4.25 6 LEIVA 24.65 2.35 0

BRIONES 1,225.67 66.77 10 LEZA DEL RIO LEZA 7.26 0.59 0

CALAHORRA 689.99 8.93 3 LOGROÑO 995.89 82.32 14

CAMPROVIN 143.29 28.56 0 MANJARRES 170.66 21.38 0

CANILLAS DE RIO TUERTO 91.83 20.97 0 MATUTE 7.88 0.07 0

CAÑAS 99.80 11.64 0 MEDRANO 267.09 32.24 0

CARDENAS 111.41 40.72 4 MIRANDA DE EBRO ('El Ternero') 56.20 2.8 1

CASALARREINA 69.30 4.35 1 MURILLO DE RÍO LEZA 738.26 6.24 2

CASTAÑARES DE RIOJA 14.09 1.49 0 NAJERA 855.67 135.81 2

CELLORIGO 42.52 0.76 0 NALDA 114.44 29.63 2

CENICERO 1,937.53 98.19 11 NAVARRETE 947.85 98.73 13

CERVERA DE RÍO ALHAMA 357.73 0.54 2 OCÓN 489.01 30.84 0

STATISTICS

73


LA RIOJAHectares Wineries Hectares Wineries

RED WHITE RED WHITE

OCHANDURI 33.32 0.90 0

ÁLAVAOLLAURI 80.73 6.77 5

PRADEJON 242.03 0.41 1

PREJANO 10.87 0.50 0 BAÑOS DE EBRO 461.67 51.01 24

QUEL 494.60 3.65 2 BARRIOBUSTO 195.64 25.16 1

EL REDAL 245.56 2.31 0 CRIPAN 169.03 9.06 3

RIBAFRECHA 362.50 15.70 1 ELCIEGO 1,049.41 45.47 18

RINCÓN DE SOTO 198.70 0.63 2 ELVILLAR DE ÁLAVA 798.09 63.02 12

RODEZNO 461.18 4.83 2 LABASTIDA 1,044.24 66.51 17

SAJAZARRA 317.34 4.42 4 LABRAZA 112.06 14.61 0

SAN ASENSIO 1,528.33 314.63 15 LAGUARDIA 3,361.52 232.28 61

SAN MILLAN DE YÉCORA 9.20 0.71 0 LANCIEGO 1,031.07 91.22 18

SANTA COLOMA 5.12 2.5 0 LAPUEBLA DE LABARCA 299.58 25.50 32

SANTA ENGRACIA DE JUBERA 279.36 6.38 0 LEZA 369.30 30.10 7

SANTA EULALIA BAJERA 10.34 0 0 MOREDA 281.32 29.11 2

SAN TORCUATO 12.65 1.20 0 NAVARIDAS 582.40 50.81 8

SAN VICENTE DE LA SONSIERRA 1,721.01 73.88 32 OYON 920.33 48.73 9

SOJUELA 99.05 28.39 1 SALINILLAS DE BURADON 48.98 3.01 0

SORZANO 70.68 7.18 0 SAMANIEGO 485.20 49.04 12

SOTES 243.29 19.51 1 VILLABUENA DE ÁLAVA 493.64 53.62 36

TIRGO 146.75 3.17 2 YECORA 535.50 22.14 4

TORMANTOS 22.85 1.3 0 TOTAL ÁLAVA 12,239 910.43 264

TORRECILLA SOBRE ALESANCO 141.28 20.65 0

TORREMONTALBO 211.47 36.25 1

TREVIANA 118.19 5.09 0

TRICIO 142.83 17.65 0NAVARRE

TUDELILLA 693.09 9.78 4

URUÑUELA 745.71 49.55 7 ANDOSILLA 904.55 64.19 3

VENTOSA 195.34 15.28 2 ARAS 76.37 10.98 1

VIGUERA 2.24 0 0 AZAGRA 1,413.22 53.68 3

VILLALBA DE RIOJA 306.41 13.01 1 BARGOTA 384.16 21.16 1

VILLAMEDIANA DE IREGUA 310.83 19.54 3 MENDAVIA 1,472.38 71.24 3

EL VILLAR DE ARNEDO 257.76 1.54 3 SAN ADRIAN 579.07 26.69 2

VILLAR DE TORRE 35.42 2.09 0 SARTAGUDA 22.21 0.08 0

VILLAROYA 2.89 0 0 VIANA 1,398.33 102.43 2

ZARRATON 225.05 10.07 0 TOTAL NAVARRE 6,250.28 350.45 15

TOTAL LA RIOJA 38,919.95 2,538.65 320 TOTAL D.O.Ca.RIOJA 57,409.23 3,799.53 600

VITICULTURE STATISTICS

74

7. VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY AND YEAR OF PLANTING (HECTARES)

No. Plots 2011/2014 2006/2010 2001/2005 1996/2000 1991/1995 1986/1990 1981/1985 1976/1980 .../1975 TOTAL

LA RIOJA 81,197 2,605.88 4,388.45 7,602.53 8,414.13 4,562.62 5,359.08 3,438.49 1,755.89 5,298.97 43,426.09

ÁLAVA 28,467 196.83 864.85 2,038.22 1,772.30 1,080.25 1,536.31 1,831.06 663.83 3,285.75 13,269.43

NAVARRE 9,045 417.60 667.13 1,848.76 1,719.68 474.04 1,001.28 426.46 100.59 191.32 6,846.89

TOTAL 118,709 3,220.31 5,920.45 11,489.52 11,906.11 6,116.93 7,896.68 5,696.02 2,520.32 8,776.05 63,542.42

STATISTICS6. VINEYARDS BY GRAPE VARIETY AND COMMUNITY - 2014 (HECTARES) 6. VINEYARDS BY GRAPE VARIETY AND COMMUNITY - 2014 (HECTARES)

WHITE GRAPES

WHITE La Rioja % Álava % Navarre % Total % White % Vineyard S.A.

VIURA 2,484.85 85.80% 889.75 96.83% 194.24 45.92% 3,568.84 84.21% 5.62%

MALVASÍA 59.15 2.04% 13.96 1.52% 3.63 0.86% 76.74 1.81% 0.12%

GARNACHA BLANCA 32.32 1.12% 1.18 0.13% 2.70 0.64% 36.20 0.85% 0.06%

TEMPRANILLO BLANCO 83.92 2.90% 6.45 0.70% 64.96 15.36% 155.33 3.67% 0.24%

MATURANA BLANCA 13.90 0.48% 0.00 0.00% 0.99 0.23% 14.89 0.35% 0.02%

VERDEJO 73.18 2.53% 1.85 0.20% 106.20 25.11% 181.23 4.28% 0.29%

TURRUNTÉS 1.92 0.07% 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 1.92 0.05% 0.00%

CHARDONNAY 36.72 1.27% 0.89 0.10% 34.75 8.22% 72.36 1.71% 0.11%

SAUVIGNON BLANC 63.93 2.21% 0.49 0.05% 13.78 3.26% 78.20 1.85% 0.12%

OTHER WHITE 46.06 1.59% 4.30 0.47% 1.75 0.41% 52.11 1.23% 0.08%

TOTAL WHITE 2,895.95 100% 918.87 100% 423.00 100% 4,237.82 100% 6.67%

Total redTotal white

8. DEVELOPMENT OF REGISTERED VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA (HECTARES) DEVELOPMENT OF REGISTERED VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA (HECTARES)

Vineyards registered

on 31-12-1983

VARIATIONS VARIATIONS Registered Vineyards

on 31-12-20141984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

La Rioja 27,395 1,129 1,212 783 1,331 -210 -826 1,417 -28 1,037 878 982 -191 260 1,237 497 1,250 1,630 2,398 1,029 -10 533 -29 -17 115 197 -540 449 -176.46 -496.94 -151.26 457.19 43,426.08

Álava 8,039 596 333 468 291 96 43 395 -40 72 205 269 61 -13 342 288 210 400 323 414 -65 434 -153 -98 73 -49 140 220 134.9 -90.94 -18.29 -50.09 13,269.44

Navarre 2,915 135 -14 84 -28 539 249 600 271 161 166 -92 -88 -149 -48 189 470 246 6 379 229 360 204 -10 11 -11 24 14 -33.4 60.79 9.37 -2.07 6,846.90

Total 38,349 1,860 1,531 1,335 1,594 425 -534 2,412 203 1,270 1,249 1,159 -218 98 1,531 974 1,930 2,276 2,727 1,822 154 1,327 22 -125 199 22 -377 683 -74.95 -527.10 -160.18 405.03 63,542.42

75

10. NUMBER OF GRAPE GROWERS 2014

CO-OPERATIVE

MEMBERS

NON

MEMBERS

LA RIOJA 5,745 6,487

ÁLAVA 494 2,244

NAVARRE 584 859

TOTAL 6,823 9,590

9. DISTRIBUTION OF VINEYARDS BY PLOT SIZE - 2014

PLOT SIZE IN

HECTARES

0- 0.10 0.10-0.25 0.25-0.50 0.50-1 1-2 2-3.50 3.50-5 5-7.50 7.50-10 10-15 15-30 30-50 50-100 TOTAL

No. of PLOTS 12,697 31,934 32,974 25,672 12,163 2,372 447 262 81 53 44 8 2 118,709

% TOTAL 10.70 26.90 27.78 21.63 10.25 2.00 0.38 0.22 0.07 0.04 0.04 0.01 0 100.00

SURFACE AREA 778.48 5,493.88 11,797.83 17,659.84 16,002.91 5,827.44 1,836.72 1,561.98 697.33 633.95 850.40 292.34 109.28 63,542.42

% TOTAL 1.23 8.65 18.57 27.79 25.18 9.17 2.89 2.46 1.10 1.00 1.34 0.46 0.17 100.00

VITICULTURE

7. VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY AND YEAR OF PLANTING (HECTARES)

No. Plots 2011/2014 2006/2010 2001/2005 1996/2000 1991/1995 1986/1990 1981/1985 1976/1980 .../1975 TOTAL

LA RIOJA 81,197 2,605.88 4,388.45 7,602.53 8,414.13 4,562.62 5,359.08 3,438.49 1,755.89 5,298.97 43,426.09

ÁLAVA 28,467 196.83 864.85 2,038.22 1,772.30 1,080.25 1,536.31 1,831.06 663.83 3,285.75 13,269.43

NAVARRE 9,045 417.60 667.13 1,848.76 1,719.68 474.04 1,001.28 426.46 100.59 191.32 6,846.89

TOTAL 118,709 3,220.31 5,920.45 11,489.52 11,906.11 6,116.93 7,896.68 5,696.02 2,520.32 8,776.05 63,542.42

6. VINEYARDS BY GRAPE VARIETY AND COMMUNITY - 2014 (HECTARES) 6. VINEYARDS BY GRAPE VARIETY AND COMMUNITY - 2014 (HECTARES)

RED La Rioja % Álava % Navarre % Total %S/tintas % Vineyard

S.A.

TEMPRANILLO 34,334.84 84.71% 11,906.75 96.41% 5,437.54 84.65% 51,679.13 87.14% 81.33%

GARNACHA 4,335.19 10.70% 132.51 1.07% 445.40 6.93% 4.913.10 8.28% 7.73%

MAZUELO 966.88 2.39% 105.13 0.85% 267.74 4.17% 1,339.75 2.26% 2.11%

GRACIANO 720.87 1.78% 161.76 1.31% 233.07 3.63% 1,115.70 1.88% 1.76%

MATURANA TINTA 80.79 0.20% 3.64 0.03% 6.92 0.11% 91.35 0.15% 0.14%

OTHER RED 91.56 0.23% 40.78 0.33% 33.23 0.52% 165.57 0.28% 0.26%

TOTAL RED 40,530.13 100% 12,350.57 100% 6,423.90 100% 59,304.60 100% 93.33%

La Rioja % S/T Álava % S/T Navarr2 % S/T Total

TOTAL D.O.Ca.RIOJA 43,426.08 68.34 13,269.44 21.04% 6,846.90 10.62% 63,542.42

RED GRAPES

8. DEVELOPMENT OF REGISTERED VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA (HECTARES) DEVELOPMENT OF REGISTERED VINEYARDS BY COMMUNITY IN THE D.O.Ca. RIOJA (HECTARES)

Vineyards registered

on 31-12-1983

VARIATIONS VARIATIONS Registered Vineyards

on 31-12-20141984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

La Rioja 27,395 1,129 1,212 783 1,331 -210 -826 1,417 -28 1,037 878 982 -191 260 1,237 497 1,250 1,630 2,398 1,029 -10 533 -29 -17 115 197 -540 449 -176.46 -496.94 -151.26 457.19 43,426.08

Álava 8,039 596 333 468 291 96 43 395 -40 72 205 269 61 -13 342 288 210 400 323 414 -65 434 -153 -98 73 -49 140 220 134.9 -90.94 -18.29 -50.09 13,269.44

Navarre 2,915 135 -14 84 -28 539 249 600 271 161 166 -92 -88 -149 -48 189 470 246 6 379 229 360 204 -10 11 -11 24 14 -33.4 60.79 9.37 -2.07 6,846.90

Total 38,349 1,860 1,531 1,335 1,594 425 -534 2,412 203 1,270 1,249 1,159 -218 98 1,531 974 1,930 2,276 2,727 1,822 154 1,327 22 -125 199 22 -377 683 -74.95 -527.10 -160.18 405.03 63,542.42

76

STATISTICS

VINTAGE TOTAL STOCKS

Prev. V. 5,837.94

CVC 4,595.17

1980 254.64

1981 1,256.58

1982 327.24

1983 116.87

1984 14.88

1985 212.76

1986 239.41

1987 293.30

1988 101.85

1989 95.98

1990 86.20


1991 314.08

1992 92.43

1993 131.98

1994 2,581.76

1995 1,391.16

1996 441.23

1997 202.98

1998 1,876.08

1999 1,463.01

2000 3.742.45

2001 14,024.91

2002 2,107.17

2003 9,668.50


2004 30,065.60

2005 47,539.26

2006 33,256.04

2007 57,642.39

2008 121,282.89

2009 242,146.06

2010 494,356.01

2011 943,746.97

2012 1,291,677.03

2013 1,602,593.30

2014 2,932,033.54

TOTAL 7,847,809.65

13. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS BY VINTAGE ON 31-12-2014 (IN HECTOLITRES)

11. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS ON 31-12- 2014 (IN HECTOLITRES)

TYPE WINEGROWERS CO-OPERATIVES WINE KEEPERS AGEING WINERIES TOTAL

White 3,762.13 31,672.38 2,000.57 194,066.74 231,501.82

Rosé 2,768.23 34,664.48 2,286.75 132,760.35 172,479.81

Red 119,704.92 942,380.29 49,274.53 6,332,468.28 7,443,828.02

TOTAL 126,235.28 1,008,717.15 53,561.85 6,659,295.37 7,847,809.65

*Aged wines stored in tanks

12. CERTIFIED WINE STOCKS BY TYPE OF CONTAINER ON 31-12-2014 (IN HECTOLITRES)

TANKS BARRELS TANKS (ageing)* BOTTLES TOTAL

3,383,525.88 2,443,233.64 1,285,023.58 736,026.55 7,847,809.65

The total number of 225 litre oak barrels for use in ageing was 1,284,672 on 31-12-2014, an increase of 22,376 over the previous year.

14. DEVELOPMENT OF BARREL NUMBERS

YEAR TOTAL NO, OF BARRELS

1990 546,615

1995 598,000

2000 939,454

2005 1,161,331

2007 1,239,291

2008 1,261,022

YEAR TOTAL NO, OF BARRELS

2009 1,286,738

2010 1,292,261

2011 1,290,226

2012 1,277,696

2013 1,262,296

2014 1,284,672

Development 2014: New: 66,388 Removed: -44,012 Difference: 22,376

77

17. DEVELOPMENT OF STORAGE AND AGEING CAPACITY OF RIOJA WINERIES (LITRES)

YEAR TANKS BARRELS TOTAL

1982 371,047,288 91,484,700 462,531,988

1993 708,219,134 131,308,241 839,527,375

1998 865,913,648 181,158,584 1,047,072,232

2014 1,119,318,994 289,660,140 1,408,979,134

Ageing Wineries 784,664,493 280,360,365 1,065,024,858

Wine Keepers 19,828,199 0 19,828,199

Co-operatives 256,942,320 9,299,775 266,242,095

Winegrowers 57,883,982 0 57,883,982

15. WINERIES REGISTERED IN RIOJA ON 31-12-2014

TYPESLA RIOJA ÁLAVA NAVARRE TOTAL

WINERIES REG. AS BOTTLERS

2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013

Ageing Wineries

227 225 153 154 14 12 394 391 403 395

Wine Keepers 33 37 30 26 0 1 63 64 47 45

Co-operatives 28 28 7 7 3 3 38 38 28 28

Winegrowers 138 134 169 171 0 1 307 306 122 119

WINERIES

CAPACITY SALESWineries % all wineries Aggregated % 2012 Sales

(thou. litres)% all sales Aggregated

%

>10M LITRES 4 0,8 0,8 64,610 23 23

5-10M LITRES 10 2 2,8 79,753 28,4 51,4

1-5M LITRES. 37 7,2 10 81,694 29 80,4

0.5-1M LITRES 26 5 15 18,290 6,6 87

<0.5M LITRES 432 85 100% 36,442 13 100%

TOTAL 509 100% 280,789 100%

(NOTE: The number of bottling wineries in business in 2014 was 509)

WINERIES BY SALES RANGES

CAPACITY RANGES

<1M

LITRES

1-3M

LITRES

3-5M

LITRES

5-10M

LITRES

>10M

LITRESTOTAL

Ageing Wineries 251 79 23 17 24 394

Wine Keepers 59 4 0 0 0 63

Co-operatives 0 10 7 14 7 38

Winegrowers 304 3 0 0 0 307

Total 614 96 30 31 31 802

16. REGISTERED RIOJA WINERIES BY SALES RANGES ON 31-12-2014

16. WINERIES BY CAPACITY RANGES ON 31-12-2014

78

STATISTICS

18. DEVELOPMENT OF RIOJA WINE SALES 1985-2014 (IN LITRES)

YearDomestic market Export market Total sales

LITRES % YOY LITRES % YOY LITRES % YOY

1985 67,743,375 -------- 28,633,625 --------- 96,377,000 -0.35

1986 74,651,578 10.70 29,902,122 4.43 104,553,700 +8.48

1987 77,442,665 3.74 35,665,935 19.28 113,108,600 +8.18

1988 82,894,300 7.04 34,301,700 -3.82 117,196,000 +3.61

1989 77,784,543 -6.16 26,631,578 -22.36 104,416,121 -10.90

1990 77,252,631 -0.68 26,029,946 -2.26 103,782,577 -0.61

1991 99,841,642 29.2 29,137,809 11.9 128,979,451 24.28

1992 114,478,913 14.6 34,362,372 17.9 148,841,285 15.40

1993 120,199,494 5 38,722,771 12.7 158,922,265 6.77

1994 139,918,321 16.4 56,790,139 46.6 196,708,460 23.78

1995 125,953,908 -9.98 59,116,887 4.1 185,070,795 -5.92

1996 119,444,519 -5.46 58,846,727 -0.46 178,291,246 -3.66

1997 137,458,184 15.08 67,781,317 15.18 205,239,501 15.11

1998 150,682,311 9.47 71,550,035 5.5 222,232,346 8.15

1999 138,445,732 -8.13 57,133,801 -20.67 195,579,533 -11.99

2000 120,119,230 -13.24 39,858,918 -30.24 159,978,148 -18.20

2001 159,986,313 33.28 60,405,880 51.53 220,392,193 37.83

2002 178,115,778 11.27 72,097,169 19.33 250,212,947 13.48

2003 170,209,213 -4.43 66,138,317 -8.26 236,347,530 -5.54

2004 182,308,591 7.10 69,027,451 4.36 251,336,042 6.34

2005 179,565,974 -1.57 71,230,807 3.19 250,796,781 -0.26

2006 182,715,391 1.75 78,965,590 10.86 261,680,981 4.34

2007 187,461,381 2.59 84,589,517 7.12 272,050,898 3.96

2008 171,992,928 -8.25 79,916,305 -5.52 251,909,233 -7.40

2009 163,672,090 -4.89 72,425,805 -9.38 236,097,895 -6.31

2010 181,262,567 10.75 85,855,264 18.53 267,117,831 13.14

2011 176,985,130 -2.42 91,920,407 7.06 268,905,537 0.62

2012 169,448,349 -4.26 96,967,206 5.47 266,415,555 -0.93

2013 174,982,696 3.17 102,184,584 5.39 277,167,280 3.98

2014 175,003,261 0.02 105,786,163 3.52 280,789,424 1.31

79

SALES

20. 2014 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY

Country Litres % of Total

United Kingdom 36,166,582 34.19

Germany 18,792,844 17.76

United States 10,277,995 9.72

Switzerland 6,485,063 6.13

Netherlands 3,553,365 3.36

Sweden 3,155,060 2.98

Belgium 2,866,489 2.71

Mexico 2,660,656 2.52

Canada 2,506,106 2.37

Russia 2,442,647 2.31

Other countries 16,879,356 15.95

Total 2014 105,786,163 100%

RED WINE BY CATEGORY

Type Markets Litres 2014 % YOY

Generic

Domestic 58,278,896 -7.30

Export 38,942,251 8.90

Total 97,221,147 -1.42

Crianza

Domestic 80,062,655 2.32

Export 23,821,993 1.54

Total 103,884,648 2.14

Reserva

Domestic 17,179,378 4.51

Export 28,547,972 1.64

Total 45,727,350 2.70

Gran Reserva

Domestic 2,076,260 49.94

Export 4,601,249 2.16

Total 6,677,509 13.39

Total

Domestic 157,597,189 -0.84

Export 95,913,465 4.47

Total 253,510,654 1.10

TYPE OF WINE BY COLOUR

Type Markets Litres 2014 % YOY

White

Domestic 10,054,718 27.84

Export 4,803,503 -7.74

Total 14,858,221 13.67

Rose

Domestic 7,351,354 -10.04

Export 5,069,195 -2.01

Total 12,420,549 -6.93

Red

Domestic 157,597,189 -0.84

Export 95,913,465 4.47

Total 253,510,654 1.10

TOTAL

Domestic 175,003,261 0.02

Export 105,786,163 3.52

Total 280,789,424 1.31

19. RIOJA WINE SALES STATISTICS FOR 2014 (BY CATEGORY AND TYPE OF WINE)

SALES BY CATEGORY 2014

Domestic market

Export market

Generic / 58,278,896 l

Crianza / 80,062,655 l

Reserva / 17,179,378 l

Gran Reserva / 2,076,260 l

Generic / 38,942,251 lCrianza / 23,821,993 lReserva / 28,547,972 lGran Reserva / 4,601,249 l

CONTROL BOARD OF THE RIOJA DESIGNATION OF ORIGINEstambrera, 52. LOGROÑO 26006 (La Rioja) SPAIN. Tel. +34 941 500 400. Fax: +34 941 500 664

INTERNET: http://www.riojawine.com - E-mail: [email protected]

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Control Board of the Rioja Designation of Origin

Annual Report 2014

Documents

full annual report 2014