VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2
APRIL 2010

Save the date!

Vibrant Rioja upcoming events:

April 8 – Spa Week in New York at Prince George Ballroom (5:30 – 9 pm)

April 22-24 – CIA Flavor Summit

May 4-6 – Rioja Grand Tasting – The Vibrant Rioja Campaign is pleased to announce the Second Annual Rioja Grand Tasting events that will take place in Chicago and New York

May 13-27 – Rioja Restaurant Week in New York City and Chicago

ABOUT VIBRANT RIOJA
Vibrant Rioja is a partnership between the governing body for wines from Rioja, Spain – called the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja – and Wines from Spain, under the auspices of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).
Our goal is to raise awareness and educate consumers and trade professionals on wines from the Rioja region. Email us your questions or comments at:
newsletter@vibrantrioja.com

WELCOME TO RIOJA BUILDS RETAIL, A NEWSLETTER FOR THE OFF-PREMISE TRADE BROUGHT TO YOU BY VIBRANT RIOJA. We will be presenting news, trends and ideas to help you build your business. We will cover anything in relation to the wine industry and the beverage retail business as a whole. Then, we’ll bring it straight to you in short, concise bites that are aimed to help.

Chicago Walk-Around Tasting
Tuesday, May 4, 1-4 pm
The Ivy Room at Tree Studios
12 East Ohio Street
Chicago  

Rioja & The New York Times
This week, The New York Times published an article on its Dining & Wine section detailing the great taste and value Rioja crianzas have to offer. Eric Asimov, accompanied with the wine panel, tasted twenty different Rioja crianzas to find out why they’re one of the world’s great wine values. What they found were usually two major styles with crianzas: lighter, silkier and elegant or denser, darker, heavier and more powerful. Regardless of their preference, everyone agreed that “what’s important is to understand that no other category of Spanish red wine is as consistently satisfying and as good a value as Rioja crianza.”
You can read the full article here.

Rioja Restaurant Week Coming Back to New York and Chicago
Rioja Restaurant Week is coming back to New York and Chicago! From May 13 – 27, you can experience some of these cities best restaurants featuring some of the best wines in the world. Promotions include prix-fixe lunches and dinners with a glass of Rioja.

There’s no better way to use all the advertising and marketing dollars that are going to go into this promotion than by running a concurrent promotion with your store. With all the buzz that will be happening, it’s a great way to get the word out to consumers. If you want help supporting your promotion, need ideas for a promotion or have any questions, please email us at newsletter@vibrantrioja.com.

Rioja – Committed To Its Key Markets
A note from Victor Pascual, President of the Rioja Wine region:

The decision to maintain the current level of investments in promoting the Rioja brand in its key markets in 2010 is backed by the majority of the wine sector’s associations. This is clearly an example of the degree of maturity attained by our Wine Region and the future vision of our growers and winemakers, which has taken us to the leading position we occupy today in international viniculture. Although maintaining the current level of promotional investment will require a major sacrifice under the current financial crisis and drop in consumption, it is precisely during difficult times when we have to make even greater efforts to maintain our position and be in the best possible situation once the crisis has been overcome. As president of the Wine Region, I have to thank you all for your contribution to the development and strengthening of our Rioja brand, that will surely result in the mid- and long-term consolidation of the vitivinicultural wealth of our region.

You can see more information and specifics of the individual programs in key markets here.

@RiojaWine Twitter Surpasses 1000!
This is an exciting and proud moment for us Rioja wine lovers; we finally surpassed our goal of 1000 twitter followers, and it’s all because of you! Your wonderful support has made the Rioja word spread at high speed, and soon enough we will surpass yet another goal. We are all about using social media tools in order to create interaction and involvement and so far, we have gotten some great feedback from everyone, this keeps us working hard. Your following allows us to update you with the latest news and information on Rioja and every time the word spreads it encourages us to work even harder, so keep up the great work and stay tuned for more Rioja coming your way!

Off Premise Wine Sales Increases 4.6 Percent
According to the Nielsen Company-tracked data, there has been a 4.6 percent increase in off premise wine sales, which has grown from the same period last year in the four weeks ending March 6. Total wine sales grew in most price points in the 4 weeks ending March 6 with the largest growth in the over $20 price segment, which increased 12.6 percent. There was also a growth in wines ranging from $9 to $11.99, which increased 9.1 percent and wines ranging from $12 to $14.99, which increased 9.7 percent in the 4 weeks ending March 6.
(www.winebusinessnews.com March 22, 2010)

So, what else can we do?
It’s been very impressive to see that the largest growth was in the over $20 price segment. This means consumers are beginning to recuperate some of the lost faith on spending. Overall, all price segments have been increasing, which means it’s time to showcase your wines. And there are not better wines to showcase than Riojas – with so many great wines at every price-point, Rioja offers the best value.

Yerba Buena presents an innovative take on Latin Cuisine by the hands of executive chef Juan Media and owner Giovanny Campos with two locations New York City – one in the Lower East Side and one Perry Street. On Sundays, the Perry Street location offers the most amazing brunch we have heard:

Those who eschew sweet offerings for savory dishes and booze will be pleased with this supper special: $50 for three savory courses, each paired with half a glass of Rioja.

For starters, choose from a ceviche of flounder and yellow tuna paired with a garnacha-viura-tempranillo blend, or hamachi taquitos paired with a viura-malvasia blend.

The second course is an option of empanadas with corn and manchego, paired with a Tempranillo, or arepas filled with coffee-glazed pork belly and cabbage, complemented by a different Tempranillo.

And mains include the signature lechón with another blend, boozy shrimp with hearts of palm paired with a Tempranillo, or duck ropa vieja accompanied by a vintage Tempranillo peludo.

And why Riojas? Manager and sommelier Fabian Huerfano says, "Wines from Rioja, in my opinion, are some of the best wines for pairing with food from South America. Latin food has so much flavor, and the diverse styles of wines from Rioja are a perfect match."

For more information or for reservations, please visit www.ybnyc.com or call them at 212.529.2919

GET INVOLVED... HERE'S HOW
If there is anything that you'd like to see in the upcoming newsletters that you feel will help other businesses, write a column and submit it to us! We would like to share best practices with all of you, so if you're doing something different to grow your business or would simply like to share your knowledge, please let us know.

Those interested should email Vibrant Rioja (newsletter@vibrantrioja.com) for more information and guidelines. We look forward to hearing from you!

WHAT CAN VIBRANT RIOJA OFER?
• Wine Sourcing -- we can put you in touch with importers and distributors to help you develop a wine program customized to your needs
• Education -- we partner with the Culinary Institute of America to offer seminars and tasting programs that can teach your staff about the Rioja region, characteristics of the wine, and appropriate food pairings
• Food & Wine Pairing -- we can draw on our many relationships with leading chefs and food-and-wine educators to develop an outstanding set of wine pairings for your menu
• Promotional Programs -- we can design and help execute different promotional programs to help you introduce your staff and customers to the wines of Rioja. Some sample programs are: Vibrant Rioja VIP Club – special tastings, food pairings, seminars and guided trips to the region; Vibrant Rioja Winedays – Build traffic on off nights; Vibrant Match – Try a tasting and pairing event customized to your offerings.

That's great, but… what else?
• Vibrant Rioja Materials – we can provide you with a wide range of educational and promotional tools --many customized to your needs. They include bottle-neckers, informational notebooks, maps, gift bags, tasting notes, food-pairing notes and much, much more. If you have an idea, we will try to work with you to produce it.