NEW FAIRTRADE ARGENTINE ROSÉ ADDED TO TILIMUQUI RANGE IN WAITROSE

Argentina's largest Fairtrade wine producer, La Riojana, is adding to its range of Fairtrade wines with this month's launch of its Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Fairtrade MalbecRosé 2014, which is available online at www.waitrosecellar.com and from selected Waitrose stores.

Tilimuqui Fairtrade Malbec Rosé 2014 (12.5%) is produced from 100% Malbec grapes grown in the Famatina Valley, Argentina. The wine itself is described by La Riojana's chief winemaker, Rodolfo Griguol, as light bodied, fresh, and fruitywith strawberry and raspberry aromas andan attractive salmon pink colour.

Griguol also likens his Rosé wine to a Provence style Rosé, something that has been influenced by the French flying winemaker Jean Paul Roger, who spent six weeks ofthe 2014 vintage working with Griguol at La Riojana's winery in Chilecito to help create a Rosé style perfect for the European market.

Tilimuqui Fairtrade Malbec Rosé (rrp £7.99) will join La Riojana's two other Fairtrade certified wines already available in Waitrose; Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Fairtrade Organic Torrontés and Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Fairtrade Organic Cabernet Sauvignon Bonarda.

2014 VINTAGE UPDATE FROM LA RIOJANA'S CHIEF WINEMAKER RODOLFO GRIGUOL

Despite the news that Argentina's 2014 harvest is down by 20% due to heavy rain and low temperatures in February, it is important to point out that this news does not apply to all of Argentina. 
 
In La Rioja province we have been fortunate not to be affected by late frosts and in fact production this year for La Riojana co-operative is going to be 10 - 15% higher than last year. Although it's likely the alcohol will be half a degree lower than last vintage the overall quality of the 2014 harvest is looking excellent and we are delighted by the vibrant fruit character that our grapes are showing.  
 
The production and quality of grapes coming from our growers in Tupungato is the same as last year as this area was not affected by frosts either. The affected regions were the east of Mendoza and San Juan.

LA RIOJANA JOINS THE CO-OPERATIVE TO CELEBRATE FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2014

This year The Co-operative celebrates ten years of selling Fairtrade certified wines in the UK and to commemorate this special milestone The Co-operative has invited two representatives from La Riojana co-operative to join them on a comprehensive tour of the UK, including 14 cities, during Fairtrade Fortnight (24th February to 9th March 2014) to spread the message of Fairtrade, highlighting its benefits to growers and local communities, to The Co-operative’s customers, members and employees.

La Riojana’s two representatives joining The Co-operative Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 Producer tour are both women, Daniela Cedron and Luisa Bordon.

Daniela Cedron comes from a family who have been growing grapes for La RIojana co-operative since its establishment in 1940. Daniela works for La Riojana’s export department and has been with La RIojana ever since it has become involved in Fairtrade and has watched the impact it has had on the winery and the local communities.

Luisa Bordon is head teacher of Colegio Nacional Agrotecnico, a secondary school in La Riojana’s local community of Tilimuqui. The school which was built with the Fairtrade premium and additional funding from The Co-operative was inaugurated in May 2010 and is attended by children of La Riojana’s workers and growers. The Tilimuqui Fairtrade school represents an icon project for La Riojana, not only enabling children in the small village of TIlimuqui to further their education for the first time, it has in its own right and under Luisa’s leadership, become a very popular school with a very good reputation, with the number of pupils growing from 33 to over 300 in just four years.

Ed Robinson, wine buyer for The Co-operative, sees Daniela and Luisa’s visit as an excellent way to promote the good work that The Co-operative has been doing with La Riojana in Argentina.

Ed commented “I am really thrilled to have Daniela and Luisa visiting us – there really is no substitute for hearing first hand about the tremendous work which has been going on and the opportunity to get this message out in cities up and down the country is really exciting. The scale and impact of the project in Argentina is genuinely astounding and the Co-operative is very proud to play a part in it.”

In order to cover as much ground as possible, the Co-operative tour has been split in two, with Daniela visiting the south of the country and Luisa visiting the north. The tour started in Manchester, home to The Co-operative’s central support centre, on Monday 24th February and will end in Manchester on Saturday 8th March. The tour will include presentations and tastings of La Riojana wines at a number of membership organised events, as well as events with universities, schools and smaller independent co-operative societies.

For regular updates on The Co-operative producer tour, please follow Twitter @Coop_Poverty and @La_Riojana.

LA RIOJANA’S TORRONTÉS COMES TOP IN CONSUMER RESEARCH

Wines produced by La Riojana, Argentina’s largest producer of Torrontés and the leading wine producer in La Rioja province, have come top in a recent study conducted by the UK’s top wine research agency Wine Intelligence aimed to discover taste perceptions of Torrontés in the UK.

La Riojana, which already has an excellent reputation for producing good quality Torrontés, participated in the consumer research with a single varietal Torrontés and a Torrontés / Chardonnay blend. Both of these wines were blind tasted in the price bracket £5 - £7.99 alongside a well known branded New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Australian Chardonnay, Italian Pinot Grigio, and resulted in being ranked highest. The study not only showed how the Torrontés produced by La Riojana were the favoured wines in their group, it also showed they were preferred by women and by younger drinkers in particular.

Nick Day, UK and Europe Sales Director comments: “We participated in the consumer research commissioned by Wines of Argentina not knowing what the outcome would be, and we are really pleased to see how the style and taste of our Torrontés wines, with their fresh, fruity and aromatic qualities, not only have commercial appeal to the UK consumer, but how they can also properly compete with today’s most popular white wine varieties in the UK.”

Day continues, “We believe that there is a fantastic opportunity for Torrontés in the UK and the recent research backs this. Given the size of our production, and the commercial, attractive style of our Torrontés, we feel we are very well placed for its future success. We plan to continue to work alongside Wines of Argentina to help raise consumer awareness of Argentina’s signature white grape variety and get as many as people as possible to try it. In our experience, once you have tried Torrontés, you will definitely be back for more!”