In the late 90s, while looking for the perfect wine for his daughter's wedding, the then president of Cvne wineries, Luis Vallejo, briefly remembered a forgotten white wine in the endless corridors of his cellars. That wine had been bottled since the 70s when they stumbled upon barrels from the 1939 vintage that had remained forgotten for decades, a result of a harvest almost exclusively carried out by women due to the significant reduction in male labor force during the Civil War. Almost by accident, a very different wine emerged, the Corona 1939, which not only convinced the bride's father but also became the first white wine to achieve 100 Parker points in 2015, something like the wine equivalent of Standard & Poor's triple A rating.
The anecdote demonstrates that the worn-out cliché that sometimes the best things happen by chance does apply to the wine business, where the bottom line remains vulnerable to uncontrollable phenomena such as weather or youth trends. This is well known by María Urrutia Ybarra (New York, 1980), according to the organizational chart, a board member and Marketing Director of Cvne [yes, spelled with a v, not a u]; according to the family tree, a member of the fifth generation of the founding family, who now leads the wineries alongside her brother Víctor. She acknowledges that the sector is facing "a very complicated and tough landscape, with many challenges, as today wine, and alcohol in general, are not trendy." Urrutia attributes this to the emergence of certain lobbies and an exaltation of sobriety that has recently crystallized worldwide in viral challenges, such as 'dry January' or the 'sobercurious' trend, the growing commitment among young people to reduce alcohol consumption.
"It affects us a lot," she admits. In response, Cvne seeks to distance itself from high-alcohol beverages and to revise the brand image to highlight the gastronomic and cultural aspects of wine. Will there be an alcohol-free Cvne? "We are not considering it at the moment. We do not know how to do it, and we are not focused on that, but on how to preserve all our heritage and history, all our current and past vintages."
The board member welcomes Actualidad Económica at the Imperial winery, in the Estación de Haro neighborhood (La Rioja), where her great-great-grandparents, the Real de Asúa brothers, started one of Spain's oldest wine firms still owned by the founding family back in 1879. Judging by Cvne's latest financial statements, the Real de Asúa family has defied the saying that the first generation founds the company, the second makes it grow, and the third sinks or sells it. In 2023, the last available fiscal year, Cvne's turnover reached ¤122.8 million, with an operating profit of ¤36 million, figures very similar to those of 2022. "They were two good years," she affirms. However, the future comes with challenges.
Climate change is a constant threat that is already altering many habits, such as cultivating vines at altitudes that were previously impractical or discarding vintages due to lack of quality. "We have had two years of drought in which the vineyard has suffered a lot. If the weather is not right, we cannot bring the product to the optimal condition required by some of our flagship wines, such as Imperial," she emphasizes. Specifically, the 2023 vintage, "we will skip it because we have not seen enough quality to produce it."
"There is enormous price pressure," she highlights. Partly due to the decline in on-premise consumption and its progressive replacement by private sales channels, such as supermarkets, where their product competes with low-cost bottles. "If you are producing a quality product and image, you cannot slash prices. The wine world should realize this because it harms us all," she emphasizes. "A person goes to the shelf and sees Rioja wines ranging from three euros to 80 and wonders what the difference is. And it is complex. Wine involves a lot of work, time, and history, and if you lower prices, you undermine all of that because it seems like making wine is just picking grapes, crushing them, and making juice," Urrutia denounces.
On the board member's list of concerns is Washington. Spain is the fourth wine exporter to the United States by value, and although Donald Trump's protectionist stance against Europe has not yet hit the sector, Urrutia assumes that tariffs will arrive soon: "In this life, we have to be realistic; it will affect us a lot." In fact, during his first term, Trump already set a 25% trade barrier on Spanish wine. "We have already experienced it, that's why we are focused on finding ways to overcome them." Unlike other industries like metallurgy, winemakers cannot move their vineyards to Florida, Oklahoma, or New York. Winemaking (and the designation of origin) has its rules. Therefore, Cvne is looking towards diversification.
Expanding into new geographies, but also gaining control over the chain from bottling to the customer. This is one of the priorities set by the company in its international expansion, motivating them to open their distribution companies in the United States, Japan, and "a very small one" in China, where the process "is a bit more challenging." "It is something intrinsic to us and something we know how to do, which is why we have extended it to the international market," she explains.
Nationally, Cvne has expanded its wine portfolio through acquisitions that have broadened its catalog to multiple designations of origin (Rioja, Rías Baixas, Valdeorras, Ribera del Duero, and Cava), often thanks to generational changes in family wineries that ended up for sale. Additionally, Cvne has grown in the distribution area with the acquisition of Vinoselección, an online sales channel aimed at individuals where, in addition to their products, they sell wines from other wineries. "We focus a lot on the distribution and commercialization part to reach the customer. We are producing a great product, and there is a lot of risk in how it reaches the market and in everything related to prices. Therefore, the more control we have over that, the better it will be for our brand and the company," she explains.
The company was listed on the stock exchange for almost two decades until 2015. Since most of its shares were still held by the family, their shares had little liquidity, making the act of trading too expensive. "We were on the stock exchange mainly to give value to the shareholders, to understand our worth. There was some movement," Urrutia states. Today, returning to the market is not part of their plans: "It does not make sense for us."