The representativeness of wineries and winemakers is adjusted with corrective mechanisms after a revision of statutes unanimously agreed
Text: Mirian Terroba
redaccion@laprensadelrioja.com
The Interprofessional Organization of the Wine of Rioja (OIPVR) has completed the accreditation process for the 2025-2029 mandate with a record participation, which has allowed to achieve a high degree of representativeness among the organizations of the marketing sector and producer of the designation of qualified origin (DOCA) Rioja. The Board of Directors of the OIPVR has delivered the accredited adhesion certificates and has officially set the new composition of its government bodies, based on the criteria established in the statutes in force.
Greater equity in distribution
Among the most prominent aspects of this year's accreditation process are the modifications introduced in the statutes of the Interprofessional Organization of Rioja Wine (OIPVVR), approved unanimously last December 10. These novelties incorporate corrective mechanisms in both branches of representation, with the aim of strengthening institutional balance and adapting the governance model to the current reality of the sector.
In the case of the Marketing Branch, the possibility of applying an upward correction factor in the representativeness of those wineries that may accredit, by means of an audit certificate, that its average marketing price is higher than double the double of the double weighted price of exports calculated by the Regulatory Council. This measure allows you to adjust the relative weight of the warehouses that sell their Wines at significantly higher value to the average.
On the other hand, two key measures have been introduced in the production branch. In the first place, the hectares of companies participated in more than 25 % by commercializing wineries will not be taken into account, in order to prevent interest and guarantee an independent representation of the producing sector. Secondly, the possibility that warehouses without sales in the last four years can incorporate their hectares to the computation of representation of the producing sector, which allows to expand the representative basis of this group, has been enabled.
These reforms are intended to guarantee greater equity in the distribution of representativeness and respond to the structural changes that the Riojan wine sector is going through.
High level of accreditation
The procedure has culminated with a high level of accreditation, reaching 95.49 % of the area associated with cooperatives, 75.67 % of non -cooperative wine growers and 79.14 % of the total commercialization, which has been positively valued by participating organizations.
The representation is distributed in two branches with 16 vowels each. In the marketing branch, Grupo Rioja has obtained 90 votes and 13 vowels, followed by the Bodegas group for quality (ABC) with 6 votes and 1 vowel; the Bodegas de Rioja Alava Association (Abra) with 2 votes and 1 vocal; and the Arax Association, also with 2 votes and 1 vocal.
In the production branch, the cooperative sector is composed of the Federation of Cooperatives of La Rioja (Fecoar), with 35 votes and 4 vowels; the Union of Cooperatives of Navarra (UCAN), with 5 votes and 1 vocal; and Cooperatives of Rioja Alavesa (Dolare), with 3 votes and 1 vowel. For its part, in the agricultural organizations sector, Arag-Asaja achieves 27 votes and 4 vowels; Uaga, 11 votes and 2 vowels; Uag, 9 votes and 2 vowels; UPA, 5 votes and 1 member; and UAGN, 5 votes and 1 vowel.
The accessions were presented on April 30, with the participation as observers of Henar Moreno, Luis Ruiz-Salinas, Igor Fonseca and Norberto Miguel Aguillo. The allocation of votes and vowels has been carried out according to the statutory criteria of the Regulatory Council.
The election of management positions, including the president of the OIPVR, will be held on June 24, the date on which the new plenary session of the Regulatory Council will also be constituted.
Rioja Group leads the marketing sector
Sector reactions have not been long in coming. For example, Grupo Rioja - which has reinforced its representativeness in the Interprofessional Organization of Rioja Wine (OIPVR) and the Doca Rioja Regulatory Council, after obtaining 90 votes in the commercial branch and 13 vowels in the governing bodies - attributes this support for its “commitment to the future of the sector and the leadership exercised in key initiatives to face the current challenges of Rioja wine”. Among them, the protection of the landscape, the defense of the old vineyards and the review of differentiating mentions such as town wines are highlighted.
Grupo Rioja has also celebrated the continuity of all participating winemaker associations, which reinforces the diversity of voices in the governance of the Doc, a uniqueness within the Spanish wine scene. The entity has underlined the importance of consensus in decision -making within the interprofessional, where a minimum of 75 % of favorable votes is required to adopt agreements, and has reaffirmed its willingness to continue working for the profitability and sustainability of the whole sector.
According to the group, "This consolidates Rioja as the Spanish wine region with the greatest diversity of associations represented, since in the rest of the areas there is only a single winery association and the concurrence of different associations provides, without a doubt, a more enriching vision in the debates about the future of our sector".
In that sense, congratulates "To all associations for the renewal of their representativeness, both of the commercial and producer branch, and place them to continue with the intense work that is being developed from the Regulatory Council and the Interprofessional of the Rioja wine to overcome a complicated situation and recover as soon as possible the profitability of the entire sector”
Balance change in the producer sector
Arag-Asaja is consolidated once again as the agrarian professional organization with greater representativeness in the Doca Rioja Regulatory Council for the next 2025-2029 mandate. It has managed to prove 11,972 hectares, which represents 28.34 % of the surface corresponding to the non -cooperative winemaker producing sector, more than double the following organization in representativeness.
Adding the hectares accredited together with UAGN, both entities reach almost 14,000 hectares, which represents more than 30 % of the denomination producing area. Specifically, Arag-Asaja has obtained 27 votes and will have 4 vowels in the Board of Directors and the Plenary of the Regulatory Council, from where it will continue to defend the interests of the vineyard and promote measures aimed at improving the profitability of the sector and recovering the balance in the Doca Rioja.
For their part, Uag-Coag and Uaga have improved their representativeness, passing from one to two vowels each on the board of directors of the interprofessional and in the plenary of the regulatory council. Specifically, UAGR reaches 16 % of representativeness for the first time, while UAGA is 19.72 % among Alava wine growers.
This reconfiguration subtracts weight from Arag-Asaja, which loses one of its vowels. From Uag-Coag they interpret these results as the confirmation that the sector “wants to change the river, varying its course, a change that would have
been much greater if it is not for the vicious system with which the great
groups ensure the control of the DOC in both sectors. ”The UAG remembers
At this point his criticisms of a process «vitiated, dark and manipulated, already
that the secret vote is not allowed, the partners' viticultors of cooperatives
They cannot vote and economic representativeness for a private entity,
As is interprofessional, it moves directly to a public entity,
as is the Regulatory Council ”.
Abstention from family wineries
The Family Wineries Association of Rioja, which had already announced that it would not be part of the process and actively promoted the ‘no vote’, has denounced a deep disconnection between the Regulatory Council and The little wineries, after knowing that two out of three have not participated in the electoral process. "Only 170 wineries have delegated their representation to Plenary organizations, when four years ago there were 410 that did, that is, practically 75% of the total," which the entity considers a sample of the discomfort of the family sector. In addition, they criticize the lack of transparency in official data, ensuring that 79 % participation announced refers to the volume of commercialized wine, not to the real number of voting companies.
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