The red wine producing region that’s defying market trends

While we’re told that wine consumption is in decline, primarily driven by a decrease in the demand for reds, there is a region of that world that specialises in ruby-coloured, barrel-aged wines, and it’s in growth – for now. That place is Rioja, Spain’s flagship wine region, which last year sold 328.5 million bottles annually (equivalent to 240m litres), with 83.5% of it being red wine. And last year, despite falling global wine consumption worldwide according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Rioja saw a small rise in sales, even if it was only 0.6% in volume. The surprise comes not just with the fact that Rioja posted an increase last year, when worldwide wine sales have been falling at around 3% (OIV, 2023), but also because Rioja specialises in reds, and it has been red wines that have been suffering the most. Indeed, an OIV report has shown that red wine production has dropped by 25% since its peak in 2004, taking reds share of global output from 48% to 43% (2021). Meanwhile, white wine production has gone up by 13% since its lowest level in 2002, and now has a 49% share, surpassing reds in 2013. As for rosé, the worldwide output has increased by 25% between 2001 and 2021, taking its global share from around 6% to more than 8% today. However, Rioja has retained reds as its main source of production and sales, with its tintos up 0.6% last year, meaning they now account for 83.52% of sales, up from 83.4% in 2023. Whites from Rioja were up 1.9% on the previous year, and as a result, showed a small rise in share, from 11.27% to 11.29% (2023 to 2024), while rosé suffered a slight decline in proportion, falling from 5.33% to 5.18%. Speaking of Rioja’s performance in 2024, José Luis Lapuente, who is general manager of the Consejo Regulador de la DOCa Rioja, told db during a visit to the region last month that “Rioja has maintained its position”. Notably, he added, “Rioja’s main markets are going up”, with the region’s largest export market, the UK, increasing by 12% in 2024, while its third biggest export market, the US was up by almost 17%, and the Netherlands, in fourth place, rose by a touch more than 18%. In negative territory was second largest export market Germany, which was down by 5%, while Lapuente said that the “biggest decreases” were in China and Russia – Rioja’s 12^th and 15^th largest export markets, which were down last year by 32% and 30% respectively (see figures in table below). Of further interest is to consider Rioja’s performance relative to other important Spanish wine regions, such as red wine producing powerhouse Ribera del Duero, which saw a slight dip in sales (0.3%) in 2024, and Spain’s most popular white wine making region, Rueda, which suffered a 2% decline, though its exports grew to markets such as the UK. Overall, Rioja is outperforming the rest of Spain’s Denominación de Origens (DOs), which saw exports decline by 11.5% from January to November 2024, according to the Spanish Wine Market Observatory (OEMV), while Rioja sales abroad increased by 4.4% over the same period. However, in Rioja’s biggest market, its home nation – which accounts for almost 60% of consumption – sales were down almost 2% in volume.