“Amigo por amigo, el buen pan y el buen vino” in Spanish means “Two friends, good bread and good wine”. This saying is just one of many that define “vino” as an integral part of the Spanish conviviality and cuisine. A tailor-made logistics concept for transporting and storing the wine is crucial to ensure that the fine wines can survive the supply chain without suffering any damage.
Spain is undeniably one of the top wine-producing countries in the world with famous wine-growing regions such as Rioja and grape varieties like Tempranillo. What started with the first vineyards on Iberian soil has turned into a genuine success story to this day.
Spanish winemakers have available the largest wine-growing area in the world – about 964,000 hectares of land, for example, which represent more than 15 percent of the world’s overall surface area that is used for grapevines. The diversity of the 150 domestic varieties of grapes with 97 protected designations of origin not only stirs a sense of passion in sommeliers and gourmets from abroad: Spanish people themselves are passionate wine lovers and celebrate their drink in grand style. Numerous wine festivals take place all over the country, such as the “Fiestas de San Mateo en Logroño”, and they have been celebrating the drink with special ceremonies since the 12th century. Wine is not only deeply rooted in Spanish people’s hearts as part of their culture and tradition, but it is an enormously important industry for the country, employing about 428,000 people. According to Statista1, Spain was third on the list of the leading wine-producing countries in the world behind France and Italy in 2022 – the figure in Spain was 35.3 million hectolitres. That represents about 25 percent of the wine that is produced in Europe.
From the grape to the glass: tailor-made warehouse and transport logistics processes ensure that the wine arrives on consumers’ tables at all. In order to concentrate on their core business, many wine producers rely on specialist logistics experts, which handle the storage and transport services for the bottles to wholesalers and customers. This is also necessary from an economic point of view: wine logistics is an enormous cost factor and has to be organised very professionally – and this includes using the latest technology. Different target markets, packaging sizes and other factors also massively increase the logistical challenges for producers. In addition to transportation, storing the wine and sparkling wine bottles is a particularly important stage along the supply chain, as no other phase in a product’s life cycle has a more crucial effect on the quality of the final product after it has been made and bottled.
There are only a few other products that are as sensitive and hard to handle as wine when it comes to storage. Any change in temperature, humidity or light can negatively impact its taste, aroma or colour and therefore pose a risk to the painstaking work performed by the wine producer. The warehouse therefore has to meet particular standards in order to prevent any problems arising. For example, wine bottles should not be exposed to any direct light and should be stored in a horizontal position with as little vibration as possible. The humidity should be between 60 and 80 percent and the temperature in the premises between 8 and 18 degrees Celsius.
“Wine is a living product that continues to develop at all times, even while it’s being stored. It therefore requires special handling.”
Juan Pedro Escobar | Wine logistics expert at Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain
To ensure compliance with all these factors in the best possible way, cooperation with a wine logistics expert, which specialises in storing this quality product, has now become an important competitive advantage in the wine sector. The warehousing logistics specialist, Rhenus Warehousing Solutions, has available various warehouse models to guarantee that the products arrive at their destination on time and in a perfect condition: multi-user warehouses to store the products for several customers, in-house solutions at the wine producer’s premises and dedicated warehousing with customised storage in line with individual requirements. Product-specific logistics services, such as picking, are not only geared towards wine here, but also spirits, champagne and Spanish sparkling wine (cava). Value-added services are also possible in this process – for example, those specially tailored towards the e-commerce sector. They include operations such as labelling, co-packing, batch production and packaging. In turn, they guarantee the quality of the processes further downstream, for example, when delivering wine to customers’ homes.
“At Rhenus, we provide our customers with extremely modern, temperature-controlled warehouse facilities with a great deal of capacity. The logistics centres are designed in such a way that they guarantee the correct temperature for the wines. They also offer ideal humidity levels, ventilation and lighting for the products,” says Juan Pedro Escobar. He believes that the world of wine has been open to technical innovations, particularly in the field of production and marketing, for quite some time, despite its traditional background. Wine logistics companies can also be actively involved in finding new solutions and therefore promoting long-term growth in the sector as a partner in the B2B segment – and not just in Spain.
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