Wine clusters and Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs) in Spain: an exploratory analysis

ABSTRACT The wine sector occupies a prominent place in the Spanish agrifood industry, for both the quality and the variety of its production. Although the protection of geographical designations is at the heart of Spain and European Union wine quality policy, much empirical investigation is still needed to assess the role played by business agglomerations in creating value for the territory through these quality protection systems. The aim of the paper is to identify Spanish wine clusters and characterize them from geographical, historical and economic perspectives. A deep analysis of the six wine clusters identified is carried out given the importance of these competitive environments in terms of degree of productive specialization, employment and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) at the national level. The results show that while the area of cultivated vineyards, the number of winegrowers and wineries in the six analysed cases have decreased over the last two decades, production, sales volume and especially their economic value have increased considerably. This could explain the orientation towards a differentiation strategy, in recent years, based on the reputation of the collective brand, which is translated into the marketed product.