Supply Chain Crisis Threatens Christmas for Spanish Wines
“They told us it wasn’t possible, that they wouldn’t be able to produce it until May. Everything was sold out. There was nothing you could do about it,” he said.
Santiago Frias, president of Bodegas Riojanas, said: “The Christmas campaign is hugely important, given the huge wooden shelves of old wine. “If we didn’t have the materials needed to sew and assemble our bottles, we wouldn’t be able to deliver to customers.”
With restaurants and bars reopening and getting ready for the first big holiday season since the pandemic closed, demand for wine has skyrocketed. But like other industries around the world, manufacturers are facing rising prices and supply shortages. Inflation in Spain has hit a 29-year high. And some supplies are simply not available.
Spain’s Confederation of Wine Producers says supply chain disruptions will resolve on their own in the coming months and enough bottles are available to ensure Spaniards won’t face wine shortages ringing at Christmas. But exports are slowing down due to lack of shipping capacity.
The country’s glass manufacturers association acknowledged bottle shortages in some areas but said it also expected the peak of demand to be mostly resolved by year’s end.
“Now that they (bars and restaurants) have reopened, we have peak demand so they are asking for different types of glass bottles at the same time that we normally have very normal demand. usually,” said the secretary general. Karen Davies.