It has been almost a half century since a guy named Antinori decided that the \u2018rules\u2019 in Chianti were far too restrictive.\u00a0 The rules were put into place to prevent people from cutting corners and, in so doing, protect the appellation.\u00a0 In the case of this producer, they turned out to be counter-productive.\u00a0 The Antinoris were looking to reach beyond the appellation with better grape blends and a more refined barrel regimen.\u00a0 The \u2018appellation police\u2019 essentially said \u2018no\u2019, that Antinori had to conform to the rules of the DOC if he wanted to identify with Chianti.\u00a0 He said no, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n
To Antinori the existing narrow boundary for winemaking and requirement to use certain \u2018second tier\u2019 varietals in the wine, were a severe handicap.\u00a0 Since he felt constrained by following the rules, he said \u2018forget it!\u2019, essentially causing the \u2018super Tuscan\u2019 category to emerge. But the wine industry thrives on tradition, and breaking out of the \u2018beaten path\u2019 is harder than it would appear.<\/p>\n
Antinori was a rebel, and his challenge of the status quo was legendary. But the wine industry is not afraid to change in many ways.\u00a0 There are constant discussions about various techniques of winemaking, viticulture\u2026how to make better wine, how to grow better grapes, etc.\u00a0 But as far as questioning the very \u2018definitions\u2019 and \u2018guidelines\u2019 by which appellations are defined\u2026revolts such as Antinori\u2019s have been historically rare.<\/p>\n
That said, there is a significant uprising going on in Spain that not a lot of folks have heard much about.\u00a0 True there are a lot of rumblings in Spain these days about a lot of things9.\u00a0 In the area of Catalunia in the northeast, which was an independent kingdom for a couple of centuries, there have been definitely been aspirations to secede from Spain proper.\u00a0 Heck, the Basques to the north act<\/em> like an independent country to some extent.\u00a0 There has long been \u2018turbulence\u2019 in Spain, but nothing thus far has actually gone beyond that.\u00a0 But there are disturbances in Spain, specifically Rioja, that threaten to significantly alter the modus operandi<\/em> of the region.<\/p>\n A long-simmering conflict in Rioja kind of erupted when\u00a0Bodegas y Vinedos Artadi<\/a>\u00a0announced its \u201cdecision to leave the Consejo Regulador of the D.O.C Rioja,\u201d the region\u2019s governing organization.\u00a0 Artadi was founded in 1985 by a group of vintners\u00a0led by Juan Carlos L\u00f3pez de Lacalle<\/a> and is located in the village of Laguardia, part of the Rioja Alavesa subregion. \u00a0\u00a0We have sold Artadi for a long time (since the early 2000s) and they have never really marketed under the \u2018traditional\u2019 banner.\u00a0 But eschewing the regional banner is a new twist.<\/p>\n The bodega has focused more on origin (bottling a number of single-vineyard wines, including its flagship El Pison) than on the common Rioja designations of\u00a0Crianza<\/a>,\u00a0Reserva<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Gran Reserva<\/a>. Artadi isn\u2019t the only winery to do that. Muga, for example, makes a couple of wines that don\u2019t follow the specific guideline of the appellation.\u00a0 They don\u2019t use the \u2018official\u2019 nomenclature, however.\u00a0 They simply give those less traditional bottlings other names like Torre Muga and Seleccion that don\u2019t confuse themselves with the \u2018traditional\u2019 designations that Muga also produces, and they still call everything \u2018Rioja\u2019.<\/p>\n What makes the move by Artadi notable is that, moving forward, their wines will not say Rioja on them at all!\u00a0\u00a0 According to the article we read, Lopez de Lacale says he is not trying to be a revolutionary.\u00a0 In fact, in his mind, he isn\u2019t doing anything different at all!\u00a0 He was quoted as saying, \u201cWe would like to highlight that there is no change in our project…We will keep betting on the land and the vineyard as the main sources of value for our wines.\u201d<\/p>\n Senor Lopez de Lacale claims he isn\u2019t trying to lead a secessionist movement.\u00a0 But it is a pretty major move to buck a century plus of tradition without a clear end game.\u00a0 His wines aren\u2019t going to say Rioja on them.\u00a0 So what are they? The Riojanos have put in more than a century of work to get their region\u2019s identity established in the world market.\u00a0 A number of large concerns are benefitting from that identity, and the region seems to have made some real progress over the last decade or so in raising awareness.<\/p>\n Now what?\u00a0 Where does it go from here? Is Artadi a \u2018lone wolf\u2019 or will more bodegas follow the Artadi lead, and to what end?\u00a0 There are a lot of issues swirling around, and it is unlikely that a solution that will garner widespread support can be cobbled soon given the range of diverse range of concerns that seem to be at the heart of the matter.\u00a0 There don\u2019t seem to be any easy answers.<\/p>\n Part of the problem is philosophical. Rioja\u2019s classification system permits only one geographical indication… Rioja.\u00a0 That works as long as everybody is on board and all of the \u2018players\u2019 conform at least to the task of solidarity in representing the region.\u00a0 Rioja has done a lot to elevate itself in the international wine market.\u00a0 That solidarity of image has been a key part of the program.\u00a0 Sure there are some mavericks that experiment with more modernist approaches to winemaking, but all under the \u201cRioja\u2019 banner.<\/p>\n But there are forces that are pushing for a more specific identity within the region as a whole.\u00a0 Telmo Rodriguez<\/a>, a highly visible winemaker who has projects all over Spain, has been advocating implementation of a \u201cvillage\u201d appellation system (a la Burgundy) in Rioja for years. In January, El Grupo Rioja, the largest association of wineries in the region, issued a proposal to move in this direction, including formalization of criteria for village and single-vineyard designations!\u00a0 A \u2018Grand Cu\u2019 map for Rioja in other words.<\/p>\n Also, Rioja\u2019s three sub-regions (Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja) have been looking towards an opportunity to express their own specific areas beyond the simple catch-all \u2018Rioja\u2019 appellation.\u00a0 According to an article in Wine Spectator, the Alavesa region (located within the very<\/em> independent Basque area) wants to put the Rioja Alaveza designation on bottles.\u00a0 In June 2015, 120 bodegas in the Alavesa region requested permission to add this indication to their labels, and officials in the Basque government have indicated their support.<\/p>\n Finally, the folks in Rioja have worked long and hard to create an international image for themselves.\u00a0 They seem to be finally getting to a good place and a number of their \u2018native sons\u2019 are doing better than ever.\u00a0 Is it worth blowing the economics of a united thrust for the sake of individualism? The largest bodegas have also built worldwide brands based largely on multi-regional blends of vineyards from all over Rioja.\u00a0 If Rioja becomes a subservient appellation to, say, Rioja Alavesa, where are they left in the consumers view?<\/p>\n If a bunch of bodegas, arguably some of the more prestigious ones among them, eschew the Rioja handle altogether for something like Rioja Alavesa or Rioja Alta, or even something more specific like Logronio or La Guardia, where does it end?\u00a0 What does that do to Rioja\u2019s larger marketing thrust?\u00a0 Most important, how will consumers, many of whom are just recently coming to grips with Rioja and loving it, deal with the confusion this kind of \u2018upheaval\u2019 can create?<\/p>\n \u201cClarity\u201d is important part of the wine experience.\u00a0 A lot of people like to be comfortable with regions and varietals before they settle in with the genre.\u00a0 If things happen that cloud the identity of the region in the consumers mind, or a lot of big names back out of using the appellation name, it could undo a lot of what Rioja has done to elevate itself in the wine market over the last decade.<\/p>\n By the same token, how do the secessionists garner any kind of attention for themselves?\u00a0 We are reminded of one of our favorite Spanish producers, Mauro, who hail from the Ribera del Duero adjacent, nebulously defined (in consumers\u2019 minds) Vinos de Tierra y Leon.\u00a0 The Garcia family makes killer wines here, but they don\u2019t necessarily fall into a category that gets reviewed by a majority of the pundits.\u00a0 They are technically \u2018other Spanish wines\u2019. So their name doesn\u2019t get in front of consumers as much the wine merits simply because they are effectively independents.<\/p>\n The same would happen with those Rioja guys that aren\u2019t calling it Rioja.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t a \u2018category\u2019 for \u2018folks in Rioja that aren\u2019t calling themselves Rioja\u2019.\u00a0 The whole fuss causes would-be buyers to have a more muddled picture of what the region, and the wines, are about. That is usually not a positive from a marketing and imagery perspective.<\/p>\n It is possible that, ultimately, a terroir-centric orientation might play better with the wine cognoscenti.\u00a0 But it would involve a bit of back-tracking in re-educating people to the new terminology and the more specific landscape in Rioja. They make a lot of wine in Rioja, and something that undermines the broad message of Rioja would seem to be something to avoid.<\/p>\n Granted those rebels in Tuscany ended up creating a whole new category (\u2018super Tuscans\u2019) that has elevated the whole region.\u00a0 But it is important to note that those wines are typically estate, rather than regionally focused.\u00a0 It\u2019s \u2018Tignanello\u2019 or \u2018Orenellaia\u2019 that most people know, not the dirt they sit on.\u00a0 Yes, Burgundy is a terroir focused region.\u00a0 But it has taken centuries to develop the vineyard framework and most people still don\u2019t understand it.\u00a0 So if you like confusion, you already have Burgundy for that.<\/p>\n Rioja has never outwardly been about site specifics.\u00a0 We don\u2019t deny the importance of the terroir with something very specific like Senorio de San Vincente.\u00a0 But they still call themselves Rioja.\u00a0\u00a0 We can\u2019t really contemplate all of the complications that might occur down the road, particularly for Artadi who is the one pushing the issue.<\/p>\n We understand the independent spirit of Artadi, Rioja Alavesa, and Basque country.\u00a0 We get the idea that the winery feels site specificity is important to their program.\u00a0 As independent types ourselves, we admire their courage.\u00a0 But having pioneered a number of genres ourselves over the years and taught consumers about all kinds of things they were not familiar with.\u00a0 We are well aware of how difficult the education process can be even when it is relatively straight forward.\u00a0 There can be wine-speak, curious foreign words, maps, and all manner of \u2018information\u2019 that isn\u2019t necessarily easily digestible.<\/p>\n We also know the more complicated the explanation, the smaller the audience will be at the end.\u00a0 As students of business, we have to wonder what the long term benefit for this kind of \u2018declaration of independence\u2019 is, and what kind of marketing mess it will create if more people follow suit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has been almost a half century since a guy named Antinori decided that the \u2018rules\u2019 in Chianti were far too restrictive.\u00a0 The rules were put into place to prevent people from cutting corners and, in so doing, protect the appellation.\u00a0 In the case of this producer, they turned out to be counter-productive.\u00a0 The Antinoris … Continue reading “Talking \u2018bout a revolution\u2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}