LA RIOJANA CELEBRATES ITS 70TH ANNIVERSARY WITH LAUNCH OF NEW WEBSITE

Seventy years on from its establishment in 1940, in June of this year La Riojana celebrated 70 years of life as a co-operative with a series of seminars and lectures and a celebratory anniversary dinner. In addition to the celebrations held in Argentina, La Riojana has also decided to commemorate this special anniversary with the official launch this week of their brand new website www.lariojanawines.com

The new site has been created first and foremost to be dynamic, informative and easy to use. Its design together with its colourful images, short videos, dedicated sections to Fairtrade, organic and sustainability is for the first time able to deliver a very clear picture of La Riojana co-operative, its products, people and surroundings.

Walter Carol, export director for La Riojana commented: "The aim of our new website is to allow the trade, press and consumers to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily, and at the same time learn something new about our company, products, latest news and awards, events and our commitment to both Fairtrade and the environment. We want to be able to communicate what sets La Riojana and its wines apart from other wineries in the world, and we feel that the new website achieves just this. What better time to launch our new website than in conjunction with our 70th anniversary." 

LA RIOJANA TRIUMPHS WITH A DOUBLE GOLD IN MALBEC AL MUNDO 2010

La Riojana was thrilled to win a Double Gold in the 6th edition of "Malbec al Mundo" awards for The Co-operative Fairtrade Argentine Organic Malbec Reserva 2009, one of only three wines in the competition to achieve this top award.

In addition to which, La Riojana also won one Gold award for its Raza Argentina Reserva Malbec 2009 and four Silver awards for its Raza Argentina Gran Reserva Malbec 2009, Santa Florentina Malbec 2010, Viñedos de la Posada Malbec 2010 and Raza Argentina Limited Edition Malbec 2003.

The 6th edition of "Malbec al Mundo", a single varietal international competition, was organised by the APEAA (Wine and Food Professionals Association of Argentina) and was held in Mendoza, Argentina between 15th and 19th November 2010. The competition takes place every two years and its aim is to find the best Malbec for world consumers.

A total of 351 wines were submitted into this year's competition from several countries, including Argentina, Spain, France, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil and were tasted by a panel of experts including 32 national judges and 14 international judges. The president of the jury was Rodolfo Griguol, chief winemaker for La Riojana, elected for the first time to preside over these awards. In total, 32 wines achieved gold medals and 56 wines achieved silver medals.

LA RIOJANA GIVES SOUTHAMPTON SCHOOL STUDENTS AN EDUCATION IN FAIRTRADE

On 20th October 2010, Viviana Michel, La Riojana's Agricultural Manager and Project Manager for La Riojana's Fairtrade Projects , met with students at Upper Shirley High School, a Co-operative Trust School, in Southampton as part of her first trip to the UK to educate them in Fairtrade and to explain how it is benefitting La Riojana's local communities in Argentina.

Since October 2008, La Riojana has worked with The Co-operative on a Fairtrade project to build a new secondary school in the small, isolated village of Tilimuqui, a place where before now children have only been offered schooling up to the age of 14. The new secondary school, Colegio Nacional Agrotecnico, which specialises in agriculture was inaugurated in May 2010 and currently has thirty-three students.

As a result of this Fairtrade project, The Co-operative and La Riojana have been keen to forge links between the newly built secondary school in Tilimuqui with a Co-operative Trust school in the UK, to enable the students on both sides of the Atlantic to learn about each other's cultures and languages, and to give them a global understanding, that cannot achieved through text books alone.

Being a Co-operative Trust School means that Upper Shirley High School is set up as a co-operative and it follows co-operative values, as well as a membership structure to engage parents, carers, pupils, teachers, staff and the local community. Viviana's visit to Upper Shirley High School, which was organised by The Co-operative, not only provided the students a firsthand lesson in Fairtrade, it was also a perfect opportunity for Viviana to talk about the students in Argentina.

Following Viviana's visit, the schools plan to establish direct communication, which will be made possible as soon as the internet is installed in Tilimuqui.

LA RIOJANA HIGHLIGHTS THE DELIGHTS OF TORRONTÉS AT THE WOFA ANNUAL TRADE TASTING 2010

La Riojana highlights the delights of Torrontés at the WofA Annual Trade Tasting 2010 La Riojana, one of the largest and most successful co-operatives in Argentina and the country's largest producer of Torrontés, will showcase a selection of new vintage releases from its different product ranges; Raza Argentina, Solombra, Ecologica and Fair & Square, including four different styles of Torrontés, at this year's Wines of Argentina Annual Trade Tasting due to be held on Tuesday 14th September at Lord's Cricket Ground, London.

The four Torrontés available to taste will include latest vintage releases from La Riojana's flagship brand, Raza Argentina; Torrontés 2010 (varietal level), Torrontés Reserva 2010, and Torrontés Brut Sparkling 2010, as well a Torrontés-Chardonnay 2010 blend from La Riojana's highly successful Fairtrade / Organic range, Ecologica.

In addition to Torrontés, there will be the opportunity to taste wines from La Riojana's recently launched Fairtrade range, Solombra, including Solombra Fairtrade Malbec Reserva 2009 and Solombra Fairtrade Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2009, both of which are due to be launched in Albert Heijn stores in Holland this summer, as well as a brand new product in the range – Solombra Fairtrade Pinot Grigio 2010.

There will also be the opportunity to taste Fair & Square, La Riojana's new and innovative Fairtrade range which comes in a red and white, packaged in innovative one litre Tetra Prisma containers, which are not only practical, lightweight and non breakable, but also 100% recyclable, made from renewable sources and have a low carbon footprint.