Knowing Rioja

Rioja, Spain’s best-known wine and one of the most famous producing regions, has a new global marketing campaign. Christian Davis reports

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SABER QUIÉN ERES IS the new brand identity and global message for Rioja, Spain’s premier wine region. Created by a Spanish advertising agency, it translates as Knowing Who You Are.

The concept, which is being introduced to 11 key markets including Spain, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, UK, and the US, was unveiled back in April in London.

Coming up with a message in Spanish – and Spanish not easily translated – is pretty sophisticated, particularly by wine marketing standards. No silly names or titles that indicate which dish is best eaten with the wine. It also indicates a confidence by the regulatory body, the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja.

Consejo marketing director Ricardo Aguiriano says: “Saber Quién Eres is a concept that connects Rioja wine with consumers in an approachable manner. It is a concept that captures Rioja’s most intrinsic values, including tradition, diversity and origin. With this new campaign, Rioja demonstrates that it rises far above short-lived trends.”

José Luis Lapuente, general manager of the DOCa Rioja, tells Drinks International: “Rioja is a trendsetting region, ahead of the curve, constantly improving, reviewing its definitions and strengthening the selection it offers consumers.

“Our main drivers are the market and consumers.”

There is no denying that Rioja is in an enviable position. Its wine and the eponymous region are world renowned and distributed worldwide. It can produce both volume, entry-level wines to entice new consumers and fine wines to rival any others and, therefore, please the most discerning wine drinker.

Marqués de Cáceres president Cristina Forner steps back to give an overview: “To mention Rioja within the global wine sector shows that we are part of the Old World sector versus the New World wines. Therefore, our business model of smallholdings is far away from that of other large wineproducing countries or areas. We deal with smaller vineyards or parcels, planted mainly with old vines, where mechanisation is almost impossible. We retain most of the best traditions and craftsmanship and are faced with a limited overall production, for our DOCa does not allow large-scale new plantings.

“Rioja’s millenary tradition is very much attached to its land and its grape varieties, as well as its people and its culture. These are the major factors that differentiate and single out Rioja to contribute towards greater quality and added value sales. During the past decade, large groups of bodegas have started up in Rioja and this has led to a more industrial image for the region’s wines, with volume sales and aggressive prices,” says Forner.

Drinks International polled some key players to see what they thought of Saber Quién Eres. De Caceres’s Forner continues: “I believe the best campaign is that which promotes our diversity so as to respond to different occasions on which one can enjoy wine. The philosophy of wines and their brands does, in fact, vary depending on the type of company – be it an industrial model, family company, small-sized bodegas or growers.

“Our competitive advantage is based on the human factor, for what the consumers are really interested in is the history behind a brand. We have to focus on transmitting sensations, happenings, experiences more than regulations.

“The campaigns have to transmit the emotion of a great wine, which perhaps is the most difficult task of all. Within this context, the regulations will not guarantee why our wines are better.”

Bodegas Ramón Bilbao winemaker Rodolfo Bastida says: “All promotional campaigns are good and useful, and in this case, betting on the origin of the wine, knowing where we come from and who we are, I think it is an interesting and different way of talking about our appellation of origin.

“You never know if it is the best option to talk about Rioja, but I think it is the right way.”

Diego Talavera, international sales director of Gonzalez Byass’s Beronia brand, says: “The new campaign breaks with the norm and that in itself has had an impact internationally. The positive aspects of the campaign are that it has forced commentators to rethink how they perceive Rioja, which in itself is a PR and marketing opportunity. It forces you to ask a question, a question that is related to Rioja.

“If it gets people talking about Rioja from a different perspective then, I believe, it can only be positive.”

SPARKLING AND ROSÉ RIOJA

“In Rioja we are always evaluating what we offer consumers and we saw an opportunity to come alongside what some producers were already investing in and broaden our ‘portfolio’ to include sparkling wines and complement the existing range of still wines,” says Lapuente.

“These will be quality sparkling wines which must adhere to strict quality requirements. For example, all wines must be produced in the traditional method, they must go through a double evaluation process including chemical and sensory tests, and fulfil longer maturity periods for the secondary fermentation.”

“We have also reduced the colour limit for rosé wines to 0.10 from 0.20 UA/cm. This is to allow wineries to produce paler styles of rosé if they wish. Rosé wines are still gaining worldwide market share, so this provides more flexibility for producers to make all styles of rosé to cater for all consumer tastes and trends,” Lapuente adds.

Talavera says: “Yes, we are working on new white and rosé proposals, especially following the success of Beronia Rosado, which is doing very well in export internationally. These are very new projects and we can’t reveal too much, but we can reveal that they are at the top end of the quality scale, in line with where we believe consumer trends are going.

Asked if he has you plans to make a sparkling Rioja, Talavera replies: “No.”

NEW RIOJA CLASSIFICATIONS

Lapuente says of the classifications: “The new indications will be marked clearly on the labels. The names of villages, towns and municipalities may now be the same text size as Rioja on the label.

“For example, a consumer will now be able to see that their wine is a Vino de Cenicero from Rioja Alta. The same will go for Viñedos Singulares.”

Forner says: “It is not clear that the official ‘labelling’ will correspond better to the current quality of the wines. Reservas and Gran Reservas are an example as they do not always reflect the quality one would expect from such an administrative classification. New terms, such as ‘Rioja genérico’ (instead of ‘joven’), ‘vinos de zona’, ‘vinos de municipio’ and ‘viñedos singulares’ may create even more confusion internationally.”

Bastida says: “Rioja has always been a denomination of origin whose sign of identity has always been the red wine. For history, tradition and oenological excellence I believe that red wines will continue to be the main reference, but at the same time I believe that opening up to new elaborations is also a sign of modernity and adaptation to new consumption and targets.

“It will take time, but I think that, in the end, knowing how to differentiate the types of wine that we elaborate in Rioja will help to understand the complexity and the different styles and origins. Wine connoisseurs will thank these new definitions for sure,” says Bastida.

SUMMARY

Forner says: “We are fully committed to this strategy so as to compete in the global wine market. In the end, beyond administrative classifications, it will be the bodegas with their brands that will be the final guarantors of the real quality and consistency of their wines.”

“I believe that the strategy of the wineries must go through differentiation, trying to create different wines within the Rioja style,” says Bastida. “At the same time, we must pay attention to climate change and its challenges. In the case of Bodegas Ramón Bilbao we have been working for several years on the concept of high-altitude viticulture, elaborating on vineyards at a higher altitude, and achieving a more modern and elegant profile in our wines.”

Lapuente says: “We want to focus on geographical traceability and with the indications approved in 2017, such as Viñedos Singulares, in addition to the already used Vinos de Zona (Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental, formerly known as Baja) and recently improved Viñedos de Municipio (village or municipality wine), we are drawing attention to the unique link with the terroir in Rioja and recognising its diversity.

“Education on this will take some time, but our strong brand identity and established reputation for high-quality wines will once again prove that Rioja can permanently remain at the top of consumers’ minds.

“In 2018, Rioja begins a new stage, developing value arguments to back the leadership position of its wines,” concludes Lapuente.”

RIOJA 2017 STATS

  • The Rioja Regulatory Council, or Consejo Regulador de Rioja DOCa, announced growth in foreign markets where Rioja wines are sold in 130 countries.
  • Exports made up 35% of Rioja sales over the 12 months from April 2016 to March 2017.
  • For the year ending March 2017, 90.4% of global Rioja exports were red, 4.4% rosé, and 5.2% white.
  • Global Rioja exports were made up of 46.2% Sin Crianza wines, 22% Crianza, 27% Reserva and 5% Gran Reserva over the past year (Rioja Exporters Group stats to March 2017).
  • Rioja volumes have begun to stabilise and plateau in the past 12 months (-1.9%) after a long and sustained period of growth.
  • Rioja value has remained static at £227m with a marginal dip of -0.1% against the previous year.
  • Within the Spanish category, Rioja continues to assert its dominance as the flagship wine region, and now accounts for almost half of Spanish value at 49.4% (up 8.7% YOY) and 38.6% of Spanish volume (up 10.4% YOY). More than 82% of Rioja is sold at more than £6/€6.83, compared to less than 26% across the Spanish category.

RIOJA MANIFESTO

Saber Quién Eres:

  • Knowing who you are is valuable and courageous. It means having a course set out and being honest.
  • Knowing who you are is your great wealth. It is not floating, it is swimming. Even if, at times, you swim against the current.
  • Knowing who you are is living proudly and true to your principles.
  • Knowing who you are is having as many convictions as you have real friends. Few but unbreakable.
  • When you don’t know who you are, you ask for permission.
  • When you do know, you ask for a Rioja.