Like Australia, France and many other major wine producers, Spanish region Rioja has too much fruit.
Rioja is set to produce 30 million litres of excess wine this year, say union bosses, despite strident efforts to cut oversupply, news hub the drinks business reports.
Some vines have been pulled but Rioja has been battling an oversupply of wine for several years.
“We are on the right path, but it is not enough,” José Luis Lapuente, general manager of the Consejo Regulador de la DOCa Rioja, told the drinks business in 2025.
Despite the DOCa’s efforts, Eduardo Pérez Hoces, president of the Rioja Association of Farmers and Livestock Breeders (ARAG) says the region is expected to produce far too much wine.
“We’re going to have almost 250m litres of wine, with sales of only 220m,” Pérez Hoces told Spanish newspaper La Rioja this week. “That means we’ll have almost 30m litres of excess supply, which will put downward pressure on prices again, even though it hasn’t been a particularly productive year.”
Compounding the situation is the fact that little 2026 wine is able to be released immediately, with much of it bound by the region’s strict ageing classifications – Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva etc. – which require years spent in barrel and bottle.
