DO Rías Baixas, a success story based on union, tradition, smallholdings and generational change

BY UE STUDIO

Updated Friday, December 16, 2022-10:37

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That of the DO Rías Baixas is a success story based on elements as authentic and unusual in the world of wine as extreme smallholdings, maintenance of traditional and sustainable viticulture, generational change and a natural paradise as a terroir, where vintage by hand at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

All of this results in fresh, Atlantic, unique wines, made with native grapes and so absolutely versatile that they pair with all cuisines and a wide range of preparations, but they are especially successful on tables around the world at Christmas celebrations.

Opportunity Stories

In barely 30 years, this small wine-producing area went from supplying a domestic market to breaking all sales, production and growth records inside and outside Spain.

In the last ten years alone, sales by DO Rías Baixas wineries have grown by 42%, to nearly 30 million liters of wine, and exports have tripled, to 9.2 million liters.

A success carried out by the 179 wineries and the more than 5,000 viticulturists who have turned each of the 5 sub-zones that make up this DO into territories of opportunities, improvement and a common effort for professionalization, innovation and improvement of the quality of their wines.

The role of the pioneers

The weather conditions, soil, orography and proximity to the ocean make the Rías Baixas the place in the world where the Albariño grape reaches its maximum expression.

Probably for this reason, the production of wine with native grapes has been documented in this area since the 5th century and was present throughout the history of Cistercian monasteries, nobles and families, until the 1950s when it began professionalization and the Albariño DO Rías Baixas de Cambados Wine Festival was established.

At the end of the 1970s, 492 pioneering winemakers and viticulturists got together to go a step further in the search for the quality and prestige of Rías Baixas wines.

In 1988 they created the Rías Baixas Denomination of Origin and its Regulatory Council.

Since then, the expansion of the DO Rías Baixas has found no ceiling.

The prestige of its wines, and their distribution, has grown like foam, the result of the union, the verification and control work, the promotion of R&D and promotion led by the Regulatory Council of the DO Rías Baixas.

The generational change and the opportunities

The video

produced by the DO Rías Baixas summarizes some of these unique qualities in four testimonials from protagonists. Manuel Méndez, oenologist, tells how his winery business was born in the family home, a farm with pre-phylloxera vines that testify that the production of wine dates back in Meaño to more than 200 years ago.

"We manage 14 hectares of vineyards spread over 164 plots," he explains.

He and his sister Encarna are the second generation of the family that, like now the third, has been part of the business all their lives.

"My sister and I have lived this profession, this project and this trade since we can practically remember and the generational change is assured."

also lives in a family business, now expanded and professionalized. He is

a viticulturist and member of one of the largest cooperatives in the DO Rías Baixas.

"Until about five or ten years ago, practically all the families had their job and used viticulture as a support for that economy. Some gave the business to their children, others gradually got rid of their vineyards and that's where we youngsters had an opportunity .", Explain.

José Manuel González and Manuel Méndez live in the Val do Salnés, the sub-zone that concentrates 70% of the wineries and 60% of the grape production, an area in which the wine business generates 20% of employment between direct and indirect.

"Currently it is a profitable business that works", adds the young viticulturist.

The great expansion of the 80s

Ana Rodríguez

, manager of one of the many wineries located in the municipality of Ribadumia (Pontevedra), experienced the expansion of the DO Rías Baixas at the forefront.

She grew up stomping her grandparents' grapes and lending a hand when she was needed.

Her father founded the winery in the 1970s when most viticulturists like him sold her grapes to larger wineries and she was just 16 years old.

"It was a risk, but my father took a risk and here we are."

She went to the University to study Business with no intention of continuing in the winery, but when she finished she saw clearly her role in the administrative management of a business that was growing day by day.

15 years ago Ana opted for wine tourism and hers is today one of the DO Rías Baixas wineries that receives the most visits.

Witnessing the importance of publicizing the terroir, the native grapes and the work that makes Rías Baixas wines different and unique, he is clear about the value of DO Rías Baixas wines: "There are Albariño in many parts of the world, but Albariño Rías Baixas there is only one", he concludes.

The role of promotion

"For a project as small and new as ours, it was essential to belong to a designation of origin such as Rías Baixas, which since its creation has done a great job of promoting and internationalizing Albariño," says

, co-founder of a winery, born just 12 years ago.

Simón and his wife,

, had no ties to the world of wine when they decided to create a winery from scratch in Soutomaior, the smallest sub-area of ​​the 5 that make up the DO Rías Baixas, with barely 0.1% of the total. production.

They planted their first vines in 2010 and today they export more than 60% of their production to more than 8 countries.

"One of the turning points was winning the first prize in the Cambados Albariño Competition in 2021. We had difficulties discharging all the production from the previous year and a few weeks later, we had sold all the bottles."

Made by UE Studio

This text has been developed by UE Studio, a creative branded content and content marketing firm from Unidad Editorial, for DO RIAS BAIXAS.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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