Bodega

The family-owned estate cultivates 60 hectares of its own vineyards in the surroundings of the Moncalvillo mountain range. Located in the Iregua Valley, in the town of Entrena, Bodegas Pastor wines are produced using the traditional Rioja grape varieties, with Viura (for whites) and Tempranillo, Mazuelo, and Garnacha (for reds) taking center stage. Founded by Rafael Pastor, the winery is now run by the third generation of the family, and began producing aged wines in 1994. Today, it uses both American and French oak barrels for the aging of its wines.

Ignacio Petralanda Uría founded this winery, located in the heart of Rioja Alta, in the town of Fuenmayor, in 1983. Petralanda works with two wine ranges: Viña Zearra, for young wines and crianzas, and Marqués de Zearra, for reservas and gran reservas. The winery has around one thousand barrels, the vast majority made of American oak, since from its very beginning it has produced fine Rioja Alta wines, in accordance with the express wish of its founder, Ignacio — a tradition that his children continue to uphold today. Petralanda is also open to wine tourism visits.

Palacios Vinos de Finca is the project of Javier Palacios, with two wineries in the Rioja DOCa: one dedicated exclusively to red wines (Proelio) and Nivarius (the first winery in Rioja devoted solely to white wines). Origin—its soils, valleys, regions, villages, and vineyards—is everything in the unique and distinctive wines produced by Palacios Vinos de Finca. Both wineries are located in the town of Nalda, where an outstanding wine tourism project has been launched, offering spectacular views over the Iregua Valley.

Urbina is a family-owned winery located in Cuzcurrita del Río Tirón with more than 150 years of history. It is one of the very few wineries that still releases wines which it carefully ages and stores in its cellars for many years before bringing them to market. The winery produces a total of 300,000 bottles — including crianza, reserva, and gran reserva wines — as well as 50,000 bottles of white and rosé wines from its own vineyards in Uruñuela (La Rioja Alta) and Cuzcurrita, the westernmost and coolest area of the Rioja DOCa, where outstanding fine wines with great ageing potential are produced.

GR99—whose name refers to the path that runs along the Ebro River as it passes through San Vicente—is the small project of Carlos Mendoza, a winegrower with extensive winemaking experience, and Ana Benés, two friends who decided to start a new project in 2019. So far, they’ve produced three wines: ‘GR99 Primera Impresión’ and ‘GR99 Contemplaciones’, easily recognizable by the eye on their labels, and “GR99 Milgrano”, a spectacular single-plot wine from a 1918 vineyard, hand-destemmed, of which they make barely 600 bottles.

Sheltered from the northern winds, in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, lie the Manael vineyards: around 20 hectares that offer great diversity thanks to their different soil types and altitudes. Founded in 1985 by Hilario Martínez Aragón, Vicente Martínez, and his young son Mario, uphold an absolute respect for the tradition of carbonic maceration. This family of winegrowers produces a white and a red, both under the Manael label, and Canene, Mario’s first contribution: a selection of the family’s best grapes, aged in concrete, barrel, and bottle.

Heredad Martínez Castillo (Cuzcurrita) has been marketing wines under its own label since 2002, when brothers Miguel, Juanjo, and Pedro Ángel, the third generation of winegrowers, decided to select the best grapes from their own vineyards. With Tamara, the fourth generation, now involved in the family project, Martínez Castillo offers a very attractive wine tourism experience, but their main focus is on carefully cultivating and producing a range of wines that avoid the ‘traditional’ Rioja references and emphasize fruit far more than oak.

The Pangua family (San Vicente de la Sonsierra) and the Sodupe family (San Asensio) have been dedicated to grape growing for generations. Heredad Pangua Sodupe was founded in 1989, when Severiano Sodupe and Roberto Pangua joined forces to produce their own wines in a historic winery in the San Asensio winery district. Currently, Roberto Pangua, along with his son Andrés Pangua Sodupe, cultivates 25 hectares of their own vineyards, which are on average 45 years old, practicing sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.