The campaign was quite better for white, with a profit around 8.5% in the vineyard and up to 21% in wines.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of La Rioja has just published the update of the studies of costs of grapes and wine for winemaking last year 2021 in the DOCa Rioja (close to the scope of the Rioja Community) and that they are marked by a general reduction (the lower treatments by the mildew of 2020 even compensated the rise of other inputs such as fertilizers and diesel), but, above all, by a general improvement in the prices paid by wineries compared to the previous year, according to the statistics cross with the estimate of average prices in origin also published today by the department headed by Eva Hita.

In this sense, the production cost of red grapes was between 67.14 and 68.44 cents per kilo for cultivation in glass and trellis, which represents a decrease of approximately 1% compared to the previous year. It was higher in the case of white varieties, with a saving of about 5% (more in trellis than in glass). But the main factor that marked the profitability were the payments made by wineries with growths of between 10 and 11% compared to the year of the pandemic (2020): according to Agriculture, red grapes were paid on average to 70.09 cents and 58.82 in the case of white, which yields these yields (on average costs) of around 4% for inks (between 3.4% trellis and 4.3% in beak) and up to 10% (6.86% in beak and 10.5% in trellis) for white varieties (with higher permitted production yields.

 

Best year in wine

The Agriculture data also reveal that the cooperatives, with the sale of processed wine, fared better than the winegrowers who sold their grapes to wineries, unlike last 2020. In this sense, the profitability of the liter of red was 11% and 21% in the case of white wine (it did not reach 2% the rosé).

The processing costs were practically identical compared to 2020 for red and pink, while in the case of white, a decrease of more than 4% was observed. In any case, the improvement in the margin of business was mainly in the prices received (although with still provisional data), since 22% was paid plus the liter of red wine (up to 1.19 euros on average) and 35% more than the liter of white (up to 1.08 euros).

The Minister of Agriculture. Eva Hita, stressed that «there has been a recovery of profitability and that is precisely one of the objectives in which we work and we have to work all». «With the Price Observatory, he added, we want to bring transparency to the grape and wine market and the ultimate goal is always to prevent our winegrowers from working below cost».

The figures confirm the strength of sales of white wine from Rioja, there is demand and therefore better prices. In fact, the Regulatory Council, faced with the harvest rules, has decided to reduce red grape yields again, due to the pressure of stocks, while in the case of white they have remained at 100%.

In the year of the pandemic, 2020, the same study by the Ministry of Agriculture showed that both winegrowers and cooperatives produced below cost. The year of the pandemic was especially bad, or worse, for the cooperatives (this year however it has gone better) before the collapse of the price of the bulk. With data from the last five years, the prices received by red grape growers are 22.6% lower than the average for five years, while in the case of white grapes the decrease is 20.8%.

 

SOURCE: LARIOJA.COM