Bodega Cuatro Rayas from DO Rueda has joined Alliance Wine’s Spanish portfolio, handing over the reins to the distributor to oversee the UK’s independent off-trade and on-trade channels as well as the national off-trade.
Known for its role in the establishment of DO Rueda in the 1980s, Bodega Cuatro Rayas has successfully leveraged its credentials to become one of the most recognised names in the region.
Alliance CEO Fergal Tynan MW, made reference to the acquisition coming at “a very busy period for us with other additions to the Alliance family”.
Alliance Wine made a major purchase at the end of last via specialist importer H2Vin, with over fifty new producers joining the portfolio officially in December.
Tynan added that Cuatro Rayas is “exactly the type of producer we want to be working with and add further emphasis to the quality and depth of our Spanish portfolio and its capacity”.
Cuatro Rayas brings together the vineyards from more than 300 growers spread across 30 towns in the provinces of Valladolid and Segovia, offering up a mosaic of soil types. The majority of production is Verdejo, including small plots of century-old, pre-Phylloxera bush vines, with Sauvignon Blanc, Palomino and Tempranillo completing the picture. It boasts two modern wineries at the centre of the region in Le Seca.
“Rueda Verdejo at its best delivers purity, freshness and intensity, and the wines of Cuatro Rayas have become a benchmark producing one of the best white wines styles in Spain, with broad commercial appeal,” Tynan said.
Raquel Fernández from Bodega Cuatro Rayas also added: “We’re ambitious and enthusiastic to continue developing sales for our brands in the UK with Alliance Wine. Rueda Verdejo is arguably Spain’s most important white wine export, and this, alongside our social and sustainability efforts, makes it a product for the future.”
The wines will be available to taste at the Wines from Spain tasting on 1 April at the Illuminate venue at the Science Museum in London.
Top photo shows Elena M Oyagüe, winemaker at Cuatro Rayas