Justice has come to put order in the conflict opened eight years ago by a group of Alava winemakers who sought to separate themselves from the Rioja appellation of origin and create their own under the Viñedos de Álava label (Arabako Mahastiak). The Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSDJPV) has ruled against the creation of this new wine brand outside the Rioja registration. “It is not justified that Arabako Mahastiak-Viñedos de Álava has a different existence from that of and the consumer could be misled about the identity of the wine,” the ruling says. It is a resounding victory for Rioja and a setback for the association that wanted to emancipate itself with the support of the nationalists in the Basque Country.
“The reputational damage has been done, it is irreparable,” lamented the general director of the Rioja regular council, José Luis Lapuente. The doubts that this attempted division has generated in the region’s wine sector is what most worries the leaders of the wine business: “That noise, that image of internal division, that wear and tear of years, linked to a prestigious product with an international presence, has taken a heavy toll and negatively affects everyone who is part of the denomination,” Lapuente remarked last Friday in .
. Some 40 Alava wineries belonging to the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin (DOCa) then began the procedure to separate and start a solo adventure, outside the umbrella of the prestigious Rioja wine brand. The war between Rioja and Rioja Alavesa removed a status quo with almost a century of existence. which allowed wineries affiliated with the Rioja Alavesa Winery Association (ABRA) to market their wines under the protected designation of origin Viñedos de Álava. Authorization was subject to final EU approval. Rioja’s reaction was immediate: it filed a contentious-administrative case in court to prevent the Alava wineries’ claim.
Throughout this process, ABRA has had the support of the PNV in the Basque Government and EH Bildu. Both the socialists and the PP have opposed the decision to allow. In La Rioja there has been unanimity against the intention to divide, which includes the areas of Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja. Production extends throughout the autonomous communities of La Rioja, Euskadi and Navarra.
The Basque Superior Court now determines that neither the Basque Government nor ABRA have provided solid elements or arguments to justify their decision to abandon the Rioja brand. The court ruling is based on separate reports presented by the Ministry of Agriculture and the University of La Rioja (UR) against the authorization to create a new wine brand in Álava. According to the ministry, the new denomination promoted by ABRA would offer the consumer the same wine: the same geographical area, the same vine varieties and the same agricultural and oenological practices cannot give rise to two different denominations. The Government concludes that giving the green light to Viñedos de Álava would mean “taking advantage of the reputation and prestige of Rioja.”
The ruling that topples takes point by point all the arguments against the escape of the Alava winemakers. The prestige that is at stake comes from the same geographical area and the same grape, point out the experts from the Riojan university, who abound in the damages that a schism of this type would cause: the reputational damage would generate irreversible and irreparable economic damage for the winegrowers, wineries that comprise it and for the general public.
The annual report of the Regulatory Council of the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin for the year 2023 indicates that it groups 13,874 winegrowers (67,000 hectares of vineyards) who harvested 259.5 liters of wine (325 million bottles) covered by the Rioja inscription. In an unfavorable context for the sector, sales fell by 2%, especially in the foreign market (7.5% less). Despite this, those responsible for Rioja consider that they maintain a “strong leadership” by participating in 27.2% of the volume of total wine sales in Spain, with a 38.3% share of red wines.
The Alava wineries of ABRA, in the middle of this confrontation and shortly before the verdict of the courts was known, with which they wanted to present themselves on the market: Vino de Álava (Arabako Ardoa). This was the strategy to differentiate themselves from Rioja, the denomination from which they wish to separate themselves. “It is not about creating new denominations, but about strengthening what makes us unique,” said its president, Itxaso Compañón. The association now represents 80 wineries from 15 municipalities in Alava.
After learning of the ruling, Emilio Aguillo, head of the provisional regulatory council of the Viñedos de Álava denomination, regrets that they have been made to “lose two and a half years.” “And that cannot be recovered,” he adds. It may be the end of his aspiration to create a brand other than Rioja. The Basque Government, as the defendant, and the ABRA association, as the promoter of the designation of origin and co-defendant, have 30 days to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Basque Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries, Amaia Barredo, has considered the ruling against the Alava registration “discriminatory” and has defended that in other areas of Spain and Europe there are “different denominations within the same geographical area.” He recalled that the role of the Basque Government in this matter was limited to processing the request of Arabako Mahastiak-Viñedos de Álava with “scrupulous compliance with what is indicated in the established legal framework.”
The general director of Rioja offers a different vision, and notes “the economic costs and damages caused to those registered and to the brand itself after more than eight years of wear and tear.” The Rioja Regulatory Council regrets “the confusion that has been generated in public opinion due to the opacity of the process, trying to make it believe that all the wineries in the Rioja Alavesa area were seeking a spin-off, when that is not the case, nothing could be further from the reality”.
