LA RIOJANA CELEBRATES MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY

This year marks a significant milestone for La Riojana co-operative, as we enter our 80th anniversary of wine making, a milestone commemorated on Wednesday 6th February 2020 with the official start of our 2020 harvest. 

To celebrate our 80-year long history of wine making, our co-operative directors, growers and workers were joined by a number of local dignitaries, including the Ricardo Quintela and Florencia López, Governor and Vice Governor of La Rioja Province respectively, at a special ceremony held in our Central Bodega in Chilecito. 

During the celebrations, La Rioja’s Governor and other members of local government also took the opportunity to visit our most notable Fairtrade funded projects centred around the village of Tilimuqui. This included the village water facility and secondary school, as well as the soon-to-be-built health centre project. Three different projects which impressed the Governor and his colleagues by their scale, socio-economic impact and benefits for the local population.  

This year’s harvest also represents a major accomplishment in terms of our commitment to sustainable and responsible winemaking with the eagerly awaited production of our first biodynamic wines. The result of an initiative taken in 2017 to plant eight hectares of vineyards under biodynamic regulations.

The exciting start of the 2020 harvest also heralds the start of nine to ten weeks of intense activity for the co-operative, its growers and vineyard workers. Rodolfo Griguol, Chief Winemaker, comments “The 2020 harvest promises to be an excellent quality vintage for La Riojana, with our vineyards yielding ripe, healthy grapes and with our first wines already exhibiting very good aromas and colour.”

LOS PIONEROS PROJECT CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY

RAZA LAUNCHES IN THE NETHERLANDS

In October 2019, La Riojana toasted the successful launch of Raza, its flagship brand, in Holland with the introduction of two wines Raza Fairtrade Torrontes Chardonnay 2019, a dry white wine with a fresh fruity taste and Raza Fairtrade Shiraz Malbec 2019, a medium bodied red wine with chocolate, blackberry aromas and a pleasant spicy finish.

These two Fairtrade wines were launched by the Dutch supermarket chain Coop Supermarkten to coincide with Fairtrade Week in the Netherlands, which ran from 26th October to 3rd November 2019. 

The success of the launch has been such that the first container of Raza sold within just three weeks and the next order is already on its way. 

The people featured in the image (left to right) are: Co-op (Holland) Category Manager Patrick Rekers; Co-op (Holland) Corporate Communications Manager Yvonne van Asselt; La Riojana Europe Sales Director Europe Nick Day; Intense Wines Owner Janneke Rutten.

CO-OP DIRECTOR HAZEL BLEARS VISITS LA RIOJANA

On Monday 21st October 2019, La Riojana was delighted to receive the prestigious visit of Co-op director and former Member of Parliament, Hazel Blears. 

During her visit, Hazel was taken to the rural village of Tilimuqui, where she was able to see firsthand the impact of Fairtrade and how Fairtrade funded projects are improving day to day living conditions for the villagers by way of better water, education and healthcare and in doing so, creating a better future for the next generation.

Accompanied by La Riojana’s export director, Walter Carol, the day started with a visit to the Colegio Nacional Agrotecnico, the Fairtrade funded secondary school in Tilimuqui, which first opened in 2010 with a total of 33 pupils and has now over 520 pupils. 

Whilst visiting the school, Hazel met with the headteacher Luisa Dallaglio and the English teacher Cecilia Gonzalez, who is responsible for the current Pen Pal project initiated by the Co-op and La Riojana to link up students in Tilimuqui with similar aged pupils at a Co-op Academy school in Manchester. Hazel also spent a lot of her visit with the students themselves, many of whom were keen to show what they have learnt about Fairtrade and to introduce Hazel to the Argentine national drink, mate tea.   

After visiting the school, Hazel was invited into the homes of two Tilimuqui residents Carmen Castro and Cristina Narvaez. Through chatting with Carmen and Cristina, she was able to learn more about life for the people living in Tilimuqui before and after the projects and how they have changed people’s lives in the village. 

This was followed by a visit to the village water facility, La Riojana’s first Fairtrade funded project, which since its inauguration in 2009 has been responsible for providing the community with a reliable drinking water supply. This project holds particular significance for both La Riojana and the Co-op as it is where their Fairtrade journey started over a decade ago, following the Co-op’s first visit to Tilimuqui and seeing the need for change. 

After the visiting the water facility, Hazel continued her day on to La Riojana’s latest Fairtrade project, the construction of the new health centre situated on the outskirts of Tilimuqui village. A project which once completed is expected to provide medical care to over 10,000 people living locally. Hazel was given a full guided tour of the building site and shown the impressive progress since the laying of the first foundations almost a year ago, in November 2018.   

In addition to visiting these Fairtrade funded projects, Hazel met with Mario Gonzalez, La Riojana’s President and was given a tour of the La Riojana’s biodynamic and organic vineyards, which concluded with a wine tasting conducted by La Riojana’s chief winemaker Rodolfo Griguol back at the main winery. 

The timing of Hazel’s visit to La Riojana could not have happened at a better time, not only coinciding with the 25th anniversary since the first FAIRTRADE Mark certified products were launched in the UK, but also commemorating the 20-year special relationship that has been established between The Co-op, UK with La Riojana co-operative.