SPAIN The Rioja region has long enjoyed a reputation for excellent vintages and exports are rising
Spanish wine makers roll out the barrels

Holiday travel has made UK consumers better acquainted with Spanish wines, whose range and quality are constantly being improved

The transformation of Britain’s drinking habits over the past 20 years is little short of remarkable and we are now an important market for wine-makers around the world. Not only is a much wider range of wine available here, but the quality has also improved and our knowledge of it has increased.
Spanish wine is familiar to millions of Britons, but recently serious efforts have been made by the industry and the producers themselves to expand their market. In a move that tacitly acknowledges the importance and strength of the Spanish industry, last year the UK’s Allied Domecq took over Spain’s biggest wine producer.

Allied, the world’s second-largest wine and spirits group, paid £172.1 million for Bodegas & Bebidas, whose well-known brands include Campo Viejo, Siglo and Vina Alcorta. Allied already had two main Rioja brands in its portfolio: Marques de Arienzo and Vina Equia.
Bodegas & Bebidas, whose 480 hectares of vineyards were included in the sale to Allied, exports 1.3 million cases of wine to 60 countries. Half of its 160 varieties are ‘denominacion de origin calificada’ (DOC) quality, the Spanish equivalent of France’s appellation system.

Spain’s Rioja region has long enjoyed a reputation for good wine and the quality has been rising steadily. Overall, sales of Rioja wine increased significantly last year by more than 30 per cent in the first eight months alone. Just over 127 million litres were sold in this period, of which 69 million were non-vintage, mainly young, wine.

‘We produce older reds with a rich soft taste’ Enrique Forner

Enrique Forner, president of Marques de Caceres, points out that two major changes have occurred in the Spanish wine industry over the past half-century. “First of all, the everyday consumption of table wine has decreased and, secondly, quality wine has replaced the more basic varieties,” he says.
“New techniques to im-prove quality standards have enabled this change to take place and this has encouraged consumers to increase their knowledge of wine.”

British consumers, says Mr Forner, are a “very demanding clientele” and the UK was the last export market that Marques de Caceres entered. The company, which only began selling wine in 1975, now sells to 75 countries around the world, its most important market being the US.
“What distinguishes us from the French is that we are not interested in making young, red wine,” points out Mr Forner. “Instead, we produce older red wine with a richer, softer taste.”
Carefully selected grapes from vineyards in the Rioja Alta are used in Marques
de Caceres wines. “We try to make the wine differently each year, according to the characteristics of the vintage in order to bring out the full potential of the grapes,” he says.

The producers are making an effort to expand their markets

“Although all Rioja wine has the same origin, there are many different kinds, all of which are differently priced and positioned in the market, depending on their quality.
“The organisation responsible for quality control is the Consejo Regulador de la Denominacion de Origen Calificada de Rioja, which has defined further regulations to restrict any mass production that may damage our region’s quality image. We hope these measures will improve the overall standards here in Rioja through a strict control of any over-production in the vineyards.”

Marques de Caceres’ range of nine varieties includes the Gaudiam brand premium red wine and the easy-to-drink Crianza. The company also produces wine in France – Chateau Camensac, a grand cru from Haut Medoc.
Richard Grant, the export director of Marques de Murrietta, founded in 1852 and generally accepted as the first winery in Spain, says the UK is its key market. “We are a relatively small winery, producing two million bottles a year.
“We export one million bottles, of which a quarter goes to the UK. It is a market with a very high wine culture. The British consumer is very demanding and at times can be difficult. If I had a criticism of the UK consumer, it is that he can sometimes be very fashion-led.”