Galician Wine in Demand (May 13)
Vega Sicilia, CVNE, Familia Torres… the list goes on. As a post-pandemic drop in red wine sales sees regions like Rioja taking extreme measures to reduce surplus wine, global demand for white wine continues to grow—and wineries are responding accordingly. I wrote a piece for Jancis Robinson (JR members only, sorry!) explaining why Spanish winery groups are diversifying their offerings by acquiring properties in Galicia.
Xunta Seeks National Approval for First-Ever Crisis Distillation of Surplus Wine in Galicia (May 8)
Galicia’s Rural Ministry has asked the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture to permit a possible ‘crisis distillation’ to reduce surplus wine in Ribeira Sacra. This measure, unprecedented in the Galician wine sector, would allow wineries to distill excess wine into alcohol used for industrial purposes such as disinfection or pharmaceutical purposes. Any time a wine region asks permission to carry out a crisis distillation, the measures must be first approved by the national government and then by the European Union. According to the local chapter of Unións Agrarias (Agricultural Unions) in Ribeira Sacra, abundant harvests in recent years and a drop in red wine sales have created a perfect storm in the region.
Crisis distillation is not new in Spain. Ribeira Sacra will join La Rioja and the Basque Country, which distilled over 19.6 million liters of excess wine last year, and Catalonia and Extremadura, which distilled over 5.2 million liters.
Casares Swaps Ribeiro Presidency for Galician Parliament (May 4)
Juan Manuel Casares Gándara, the now-former president of the DO Ribeiro‘s Regulatory Council, announced his resignation at the Feira do Viño do Ribeiro (Ribeiro Wine Festival). Casares, who was at the head of the Ribeiro region since 2017, will go to the Galician Parliament as a member of the Popular Party (PP). Read my take on the resignation here. Casares was replaced by a temporary president, and Ribeiro will hold elections later this year to determine his replacement.
DO Monterrei Grows to Include 29 Wineries (May 24)
The winery “Alejandro Ramón Blanco Dijkhoff”, from Mourazos, Verín, is the 29th winery to join DO Monterrei, which has grown from 23 to 29 registered wineries in the last decade. The growth in number of wineries has also been accompanied by a jump in grape production: over the last ten years, total yields have grown from 2.8 million kilos in 2014 to 6.9 million kilos in 2023—an increase of 145%. The number of growers has remained stable at 375, but the area under vine has increased from 463 hectares in 2014 to the current 719 ha. For the president of DO Monterrei’s Regulatory Council, Jonatás Gago, “the fact that a new winery wants to certify its wines under Monterrei is a reason for joy for the entire Regulatory Council”.
Galicia Absorbs 28% of Vineyards Grubbed Up in Spain (May 5)
In Spain, growers have three options to plant vineyards: obtain new authorizations which are distributed yearly by the Ministry of Agriculture, convert old planting rights into authorizations, or apply for replanting authorizations. The latter are a sort of viticultural law of conservation of energy: vineyards can neither be created nor destroyed – only converted from one form to another. These replanting authorizations are created after a pre-existing vineyard has been grubbed up and allow a grower to plant a new vineyard. Last year, Galicia added 418 new hectares of vines through this system, of which 396ha were for vineyards in an appellation of origin, 7ha for one of Galicia’s five IXPs, and 15ha not covered by any DO. Replanting authorizations can be generated in one autonomous community and used in another—for example, this year 60% of all authorizations came from Castilla-La Mancha and went mostly to Castilla y León. Galicia received 28% of the total authorizations in Spain—putting the region in second place for total replanting authorizations. Many of these went to Galicia’s white wine regions, which are riding a wave of growth. For example, wineries are creating massive plantations in the Ulla subzone of Rías Baixas. Not everyone is happy about it.