LA RIOJANA WINS TOP AWARD AT PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINE AWARDS 2022

(pictured left to right): Steve Royle, Kate Goodman, Ameila Singer, Sarah Singer and Richard Siddle.
Image credit: Phil Tragen Photography

La Riojana was delighted to win The Story Behind The Label award for the best short film at this year’s People’s Choice Wine Awards held at Manchester’s Stoller Hall on Monday 25th April 2022. 

The People’s Choice Wine Awards, now in its fifth year, is a wine competition unlike any other, where the judging process involves both everyday wine drinkers with a knowledge of wine and professional wine trade judges. 

In this year’s competition, 120 people took part in the judging, 80 of which were consumers and 40 were trade professionals, judging wines in 30 different categories, including different wine styles / wine drinking occasions. 

In addition to entering wines, each entrant was given the opportunity to enter The Story Behind the Label video challenge, where producers are invited to make a very short film, maximum two minutes in length, that really brings their story to life.  

La Riojana’s film was shortlisted along with two other films and was voted for live on the evening of the awards, where it achieved a very convincing win, with over 70% of the audience’s vote. 

The Story Behind the Label award, sponsored by The Buyer, was presented by the evening’s hosts Ameila Singer and Richard Siddle to Sarah Singer from the Fairtrade Foundation, who kindly accepted the award on La Riojana’s behalf. 

In addition to the video category, this year the competition introduced a new category, the Drink Fairtrade Award category for which La RIojana had three wines shortlisted, including its Co-op Fairtrade Bonarda Malbec 2021, Co-op Irresistible Fairtrade Organic Malbec 2020 and Tilimuqui Fairtrade Organic Malbec 2021. 

Export Director for La Riojana co-operative, Walter Carol commented “It’s hard to express in words how thrilled we are with winning The Story Behind The Label award. We work with passion and love, and we believe that change is possible. We don’t do it for the recognition, but it means a lot when we receive support like this. Something which allows people to believe and see the difference Fairtrade can make to our growers and our local community. We are forever grateful.”


Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPVFU8YMuTE to watch the winning film. 

LA RIOJANA’S BONARDA WINES TRIUMPH AGAIN

Concurso Bonarda Argentina - press release image.jpg

Despite being the year that it was, 2020 saw our co-operative win a host of notable awards in a number of wine competitions, including three Double Gold medals most recently awarded by the Argentine Bonarda Competition 2020 (Concurso Bonarda Argentina).

The Argentine Bonarda competition, now in its seventh year, took place in Mendoza, Argentina at the end of December 2020 where a total of 70 wine entries from Mendoza, La Pampa, Catamarca and La Rioja provinces were judged by 40 wine professionals.

Following on from our Bonarda Gold medal success in previous years, the judges once again recognised the quality of Bonarda being produced in La Rioja province and the full potential of the region’s terroir and awarded three of the four of the 2020 competition’s top Gold Medals to La Riojana. 

The Concurso Bonarda Argentina 2020 awarded three Double Gold (Doble Oro) medals to the following wines from La Riojana:

Raza Argentina Blend Bonarda / Malbec 2017

75 Vendimias Bonarda 2018

Tilimuqui Fairtrade Organic Bonarda 2018

Chief Winemaker for La Riojana co-operative, Rodolfo Griguol, commented “Our Bonarda wines are characterized by their intense red colour, fruity nose with red, black and dry fruits which stand out. On the palate they are well-structured and smooth which makes them easy to drink and to pair with different dishes, such as roasts, flavourful pasta dishes, cheese and dark chocolate desserts.”