LA RIOJANA INAUGURATES CONSTRUCTION OF FAIRTRADE FUNDED HEALTH CENTRE

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On 30th June 2022, the day of La Riojana’s 82nd anniversary, a crowd of over 500 people, including co-operative growers’, workers, local dignitaries, and special guests, gathered to witness and celebrate the completion of Los Pioneros – Roberto Mantovani Health Centre, situated on the outskirts of Tilimuqui, whose construction was funded by the Fairtrade Social Premium generated by sales of La Riojana’s Fairtrade certified wines.

The new health centre, which spans 800 m2, will offer much needed medical care to mothers and children living in the local region, and will include consultation rooms, a laboratory, an Accident and Emergency unit, as well as telemedicine, a facility which will provide remote clinical services to patients. 

The Los Pioneros – Roberto Mantovani Health Centre has been named in honour of the world’s first ever co-operative, established in 1844 and known as the Rochdale Pioneers, as well as in remembrance of the recently deceased Roberto Mantovani, who held the position of General Manager of La Riojana co-operative for 35 years.  

During the inauguration, La Riojana’s President Mario Gonzalez commented “Our co-operative is able to provide work for over 2000 families and as such provides an important form of support to the local economy in the region, building important and useful community projects, such as the one we are opening today.”

Also present at the inauguration was Bjorn Wittmark, Director of Giertz Vinimport – a member of the Viva Wine Group, Sweden who commented “We feel very proud to be part of this Fairtrade journey together with La Riojana and The Co-op, UK”. Bjorn highlighted the fact that Giertz Vinimport has been working with La Riojana for almost 20 years and pointed out during which period the winery has exported approximately 60 million bottles of wine to the Swedish market alone. 

Representing and speaking on behalf of the Argentine government, Juan Carlos Vergara, Health Minister for La Rioja province, remarked “building a medical centre like this is very relevant to our health care system because it helps strengthen the primary level of care for the people who most need it, providing accessibility and equity.”

In addition to the inauguration of the health centre, La Riojana decided to celebrate its 82nd birthday with the unveiling of three different murals, located in three different locations. One located on the Health Centre, one on the oldest tank in the winery and one on the winery’s bottling plant. The murals were painted by the ONG Pinta Argentina, a foundation that works with wineries, and have been painted to represent the history and identity of the co-operative over the past 82 years. 

The inauguration of the health centre on 30th June 2022 represented the completion of the main building works. Once the health centre has been fully equipped and furnished and is ready to welcome its first patients, which is expected to be early 2024, there will be a full opening ceremony to celebrate this incredible Fairtrade funded project.

LA RIOJANA WINS SILVER FOR CO-OP FAIRTRADE BONARDA-MALBEC

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La Riojana is thrilled to have won a series of awards for its wines in this year’s IWC and DWWA competitions, including a Silver Medal for the red dual varietal it produces for the UK’s largest Fairtrade retailer, The Co-op. 

Decanter World Wine Awards 2022, the results for which were announced 8th June 2022, awarded the Co-op Fairtrade Bonarda-Malbec 2021 a Silver Medal and 92 points. The wine itself, which was among the 18,244 wines judged at the competition, was described by the DWWA as “Floral and fragrant with red fruit, herb and olive aromatics, and the palate is laced with inky, dark fruit.”

The Co-op Bonarda-Malbec 2021 is one of La RIojana’s top sellers and currently retails for under £6 a bottle, which makes it a great value for money Fairtrade wine. The same wine also won a Bronze Medal at the International Wine Challenge 2022. 

In addition to this, Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 and the International Wine Challenge 2022 both awarded Bronze Medals to La Riojana’s Co-op Irresistible Fairtrade Organic Malbec 2020; Co-op Fairtrade Merlot 2021; Tilimuqui Fairtrade Organic Malbec 2021 and Ecologica Fairtrade Organic Shiraz-Malbec 2021.

DWWA gave further Bronze Medals to Ecologica Fairtrade Organic Torrontes-Chardonnay 2021 (89 points); Co-op Fairtrade Shiraz Rosé 2021 (87 points); Co-op Fairtrade Torrontes-Chardonnay 2021 (86 points); Co-op Fairtrade Pinot Grigio 2021 (86 points); Co-op Fairtrade Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (86 points).

“This is a great set of results” comments Nick Day, Europe Sales Director for La Riojana “in particular the Silver Medal for our Co-op Bonarda-Malbec. Sales have been consistently buoyant for this wine, it seems the 70% Bonarda - 30% Malbec blend, the fact it’s Fairtrade as well as the attractive price point, makes it a popular choice for the UK consumer”. 

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

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(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.