VITeff Veille

Spain

The Spanish vineyards

• 1.12 Mha
• wine production localized in 5 Communities.
• The most important ones: Castille La Mancha, Catalogne, Rioja, Galicie, Valence, Estramadure, Andalousie.
• Production: 49,000 thousand hectolitres (2004).
• 645,000 wine growing plantations.
• Wine production concentrated in cooperative structures which account for 65 % of the production.
• Marketing done by a multitude of Bodegas, often of medium to small size. Wine consumption: 11,446 million hl i.e. around 26.74 litres per inhabitant.
  
  Wine exports
  
• Account for 20 to 30 % of the production.
• 70 to 80 % of the exports are made to the European Union.
• Main countries: France (1/3 of the imports of foreign wines), Switzerland, USA, Japan, Norway.
  
  Wine imports Spain scarcely imports wines because it produces most of the volumes consumed. Italy is the main supplier, followed by France.
  
  The sparkling wines market
  
• In Spain, the sparkling wines production mainly concerns the CAVA, crackling wine of Catalogne developed according to the traditional method. 160 municipalities come within the production zone of the cava.
  
• Other than the cava, Spanish production of sparkling wines is not much.
  
  

  Cava

  32,009 ha spread over Catalogne, Rioja, Aragon, Valence and Badajoz.
  
  General data on the Cava:
  

• 6,848 wine growers.
• 272 cellars.
• 160,986 litres produced.
  
  Production of Cava
  
• 95 % of the production in Catalogne (especially in the Pénédès).
• 10 producers including Freixenet and Codorniu control 91.5 % of the consumption.
• Small quantities are however produced by a few bodegas scattered across the country.- Freixenet holds 36.5 % of the production of cavas. Cordoniu 38.4 % and 16.9 % for the white brands. The remaining 8.2 % are with the other producers.
  
  Wine growing areas of Catalogne
  
  Catalogne-Penedes: This is the foremost producing region of cava. The houses of cava own a fifth of the vineyards of Penedès. The cava is not confined to a limited geographical area. The grape can come from several communes spread over the Northern part of Spain, but a number of big producers are established at San Sadurni de Noya and Villafranca del Penedes. Other wine growing areas of Catalogne: The most dynamic among these is Lleida. It may be noted that the wines of Raimat (sparkling or still) are of good quality.
  
  
• Vine varieties used: Macabeo, Xarel, Parellada, Chardonnay, Subirat Parent for the white wines. But also Pinot noir and Trepat for the rosé wine cellars.
  
  Marketing of the Cava
  
• 222,000,000 bottles produced in 2005.
  
• 93 million bottles were consumed in 2005 on the domestic market, especially in the Barcelone region and the North-Eastern region of the country.
  
• 130 million bottles exported in 2005 to 130 countries (+ 25 % over the last 5 years). More than 2/3 to Germany and the United Kingdom. A marked progression of exports to the United States.
  
• The production has been adapting itself to suit the evolutions in the tastes of the consumers. Current thrust is on improving quality.
  
• Crude cavas are being favoured to the detriment of the semi-dry and dry cavas (specially liked by the German market).
  
• In Spain, the cava is distributed especially in hyper and supermarkets.
  
• The cava had to face a boycott end 2004; the Government coalition in Catalogne had publicly announced its boycott of the Madrid’s candidacy in the 2012 Olympic Games. There is a considerable risk involved knowing that the end year period accounts for 53 % of the total sales.
  
  Prospects for the Cava
  
  
• No large scale developments foreseen for the Spanish domestic market. The external markets are the ones that will stimulate the sales.
  
• The giants in the cava trade are carrying on with their diversification by investing in still wines. Quite to the contrary, the producers of still wines are looking for completing their range with cava.
  
• Future being considered with optismism.
  
  
  

  Sparkling wines D.O. (AOC) outside the scope of the Cava

  Utiel Requena (traditional method): 300 ha. 700 to 850,000 bottles.
  
  Valencia (traditional method): 20 ha in the Valence region. 100 to 120,000 bottles.
  
  La Mancha (traditional method), in the Castille la Manche region. 100,000 bottles.
  
  Rueda (traditional method), crude and semi-dry, in the region of Castille and Léon. 75 to 150,000 bottles.
  
  
  

  Sparkling wines other than Cavas and D.O.

  Sparkling wines traditional method: < 1 million bottles.
  
  Sparkling wines fermentation in vats: 8 million bottles out of which 6 million supposedly produced by Freixenet.
  
  In 2004, the Spanish consumption of wine decreased by 3.5 %. The decrease is however lesser in the case of sparkling wines.
  
  As far as champagne is concerned, shippings reached 2,289,024 bottles in 2004, i.e. a rise of 6 %.
  
  Source: ELetter Vinimarket 30/3/2005 + economic mission in Spain February 2006.