Because of the time, this year’s harvest has been scarce. How are your vineyards? On April
28, a large freezing occurred, with temperatures ranging from three to four degrees below zero. The vineyard was already well advanced, the outbreaks had grown considerably and everything had been burned. Unlike many others, we have insurance, and he gave us 90% of the vineyard. Now we're called Ground Zero. It filled us with tears. In particular, we have received 15% of our production.

How does industrialization affect vineyards?
It seems that the thing about everyone having their own wine is the usual thing, but before the wine was sold to large farms or wineries, the small winegrowers and stewards did not sell theirs. That's something new, because in the 1970s, yours began to be marketed, when the boom took place. Machining and distribution of chemicals – artificial fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides – supplied by large multinational companies. What until then was done with a lot of work, became very easy with machining and innovations. It was crazy. Eventually we realized that we had to take care of the land, which would not last long. We have a hundred years of vine, but using this kind of production, in 40 years they will give nothing, we will kill them.

What role have the Riojana designation of origin and the Regulatory Council played there?
The big wineries are the ones that govern. The Rioja Designation of Origin Council has 150 spokespersons, of whom only five are from the Rioja Alavesa. We don’t have any capacity in the consejo.Tienen large amounts of money for promotion, but we don’t get anything. They waste money to offer offers to distributors I don't know where. Outside here La Rioja is only known in its totality, but within La Rioja there are three areas: Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa. In these three areas there are very different cultures and lifestyles, and they do not take into account the characteristics of each of them.

What is the difference between La Rioja and Rioja Alavesa?In Rioja
Alavesa most are the vineyards of the families. In a village of 300 inhabitants we have 40 wineries, not to mention those that sell. Coming down to Rioja Baja there are giant wineries, properties belong to a few and the rest are workers. These owners are the ones who have the most votes in the council of the Designation of Origin of La Rioja. As a result, we were collecting about 60 small wineries in the area to create our own designation of origin.

Why do you want you?We want to organize and manage each
other, but they don't leave us, they consider us dissidents. We want to ensure the survival of our region, and we can only do so in a consensual manner between us. Quality has been one of the traditional characteristics of Alavese wine; caring for the land and the careful and ecological production gives it a high quality. In the last two years we have been working to make our own name, Álava Vineyards, but the council has forced us to place Rioja Alavesa instead of Rioja Alavesa, and to place the name of Rioja alongside our name.

Your bet is the ecological one.
That is the best thing for us. We are four cats who work in the organic viticulture in the Rioja Alavesa. The institutions are not concerned about doing so. The agricultural policy of the institutions is very poor, when politicians approach us they are always raising and lowering exports, but before we have to meet the needs here. Movements like Etxalde, Via Campesina, Baserritik Mundura or Bizilur are working to move forward.

You work in Etxalde Sustainable Agriculture. What do you do?

Etxalde’s philosophy is to boost food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture. That is our desire, to live with dignity. And not a few, but all. For that, we all have to produce a little, not a few.

You don't have an easy way cil.Cuatro of the crops
of the past six years have been bad; that's unbearable for small wineries like ours. The policy behind the advice of the designation of origin of La Rioja, the policies that come from Europe, globalisation, all affects us. This is our way of life, but it's getting harder and harder. Many started selling grapes to large wineries, but some have already started selling land. Our life, and ourselves, goes to the devil.