Urkullu revives the 'battle' of wine: asks the Government to eliminate the exclusivity of the DO Rioja
The Basque Government has reactivated a conflict over the Rioja denomination of origin, considering that it affects the wine sector of its community. The institution has requested the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to “cancel, revoke or repeal” an order that modified the Regulatory Council of the Qualified Designation of Origin (DOCa) Rioja in September last year. With this modification, the wine sector of three territories, including part of the Basque Country, must allocate the grape exclusively for wines with the Rioja denomination.
The Lendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, “has authorized the Central Legal Service of the Basque Government to file the corresponding contentious-administrative appeals” if the request ends up being rejected by the ministry. The territorial institution argues that the statute generates “discrimination” between winegrowers and winemakers, “since the former are forced to produce their grapes only for DOCa Rioja, while wine corporations, especially large ones, can operate in different denominations of origin”, informs the Basque institution.
Currently, the territorial scope of the Rioja denomination includes three autonomous communities: La Rioja (121 municipalities), the Basque Country (15) and Navarra (8).. The territory governed by Urkullu represents, in liters of wine sold, 32% of total sales under the Rioja denomination, according to a 2021 report from the Regulatory Council to which El Confidencial has had access..
From the Basque Country, they request that the free market be guaranteed to the 15 municipalities affected by the decision of the Regulatory Council. Current regulations limit the ability of producers in the region to allocate part of the grapes to new denominations of origin or to the production of wines outside the Rioja denomination. In the event that a winegrower wanted to work for another brand of origin and, later, decided to return to the Rioja denomination, he would have to undergo “a complete vegetative cycle” of one year that would prevent him from continuing to market wine, according to the decision made during the plenary session of the Regulatory Council. “That vineyard could not be working in the area of another denomination,” say sources consulted by this means.
As this medium has learned, a small wine sector is in disagreement, like the Basque Country, with the statute approved in September last year, which imposes exclusivity on wineries in the area to work under the Rioja denomination. In the Basque territory, in addition to Rioja, there are four other protected designations of origin for wine. However, it has been suspended since April this year by the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country due to several unfavorable reports issued by the DOC Rioja and the Ministry of Agriculture.. Today, it is not allowed to market its wines.
The DOCa statute
The regulations state that “the production of the vineyards registered in the council's records must be used exclusively for the production of covered wine”. It adds that the “modification is added to the framework of rules and conditions already in force to guarantee the exclusivity of production, processing and storage”. As well as that “the exclusive dedication requirements that the registered wineries have are equated with the requirements of the vineyards, by extending the principle of exclusivity also to these, as corresponds to a qualified designation of origin”.