I hear this expression, which literally means “We Spaniards sell ourselves badly”, often when discussing the plight of Spanish wines in the world. It is often followed by ’the Italians are much better at selling their wines’. There is much to reflect on in both these statements and like most generalities there is an element of truth in both.
When I began my career in London, 30 odd years ago, Italian wines filled the retailers shelves and restaurant lists were filled with Lambrusco, Chianti, Valpolicella, Soave and Frascati. This is no long the case, these wines have are much less visible and nowadays you mostly find them in traditional Italian restaurants. However, in their place the sparkling wine Prosecco and the white grape Pinot Grigio, have become phenomenally successful and maintained the Italian wine’s share of many markets. If you take these two products out of the Italian market share, then the picture would be very different.
Spain’s equivalent to Pinot Grigio and Prosecco is Rioja. If you take sales of Rioja out of Spain’s international market share then the picture would not be good. There is an image problem with Spanish wines, always being the cheapest makes it harder for emerging regions with wines from indigenous grape varieties to make an impact. Throughout my career, international wine professionals have seen Spain as being ‘the next big thing’ but it is yet to happen.
I think that it is time to change how success is judged. Whether it be tourism or wine, the governing bodies bombard us with figures and the higher the volume the better. However, this is a mistake. Surely quality, variety and value are better ways to judge the improving image of a country’s wines. Focussing on these credentials will result in even better and more interesting wines that will capture the international public’s imagination.
Interestingly the consumers of Pinot Grigio and Prosecco is Rioja are poles apart. The two Italian wines are popular with a younger female market while Rioja has more of male 50+ market. When a winery here in Spain is thinking about how to present their wines too often not enough attention and investment is spent on strategy. In order to achieve this goal better education about wine is essential.
There are many encouraging signs, in New York and London there are Sherry bars and wine lists have wines from Bierzo to the Canary Islands to Valencia. The years of economic crisis may have been the catalyst for change. Nowadays you find young Spanish professionals working in the major cities of the world, having had to leave Spain to find jobs, just like the Italians and Irish, like me, have done for generations. The diaspora creates demand for the food and wine from home. This is happening for wines from Spain. There is no doubt that the new generation of Spaniards in the world will sell Spain much better.
So hopefully if attitudes are change the expression ‘los españoles nos vendemos mal’ will become ‘¡Qué bien nos vendemos!’.