My Rioja vineyards tour continues with the Marques de Riscal winery, located in the city of Elciego (Rioja Alavesa). The activity began in 1858, is the oldest winery in Álava, and in 2006, were transformed into the City of Wine by the aid of the architect Frank Gehry.
This is a trip I have been organizing for some time and counting with one of the most important wineries makes it even more interesting. Do you want to know how to organize the Rioja vineyards tour? Read here!
INFO AND TOURS
VISIT MARQUÉS DE RISCAL: From Monday to Sunday including holidays. Price: € 16 per person. Includes tour to the winery and tasting of two wines: Marqués de Riscal Rueda Verdejo and Marqués de Riscal Reserva, accompanied by sausage and chorizo (local product). Duration: 90 m approximately. Languages: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German and Russian. Book here!
PRIVATE VISITS WITH TASTING AND APPETIZER: Private Tasting can be: “Finca”, “Inspiración” or “Selección” include a visit to the winery and appetizer of Iberian ham, Idiazábal cheese, and Rioja sausage. Available for groups of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 people.
VISIT MARQUÉS DE RISCAL + VALLE SALADO DE AÑANA: It includes the visit Marqués de Riscal and the entrance to Valle Salado de Añana located in the province of Álava, 75 km from the City of Wine, € 21.25 per person.
MARQUES DE RISCAL WINERY TASTING
The tour is approx 2h between one space and other, Marqués de Riscal is one of the most visited wineries in Spain. The tour begins with a video, seated, on the history and products of the house.
The second stop is the famous 5 * hotel, to admire its structure from the entrance (at the end of the tour you can to take more pictures). We then move on to the various rooms to find out how the wine is processed.
The cemetery of Marques de Riscal is gorgeous, you can find bottles from the late 1800s. Few of these bottles are opened and only on special occasions, for example, to inaugurate the Hotel project a bottle of the year by Frank Gehry (1929) was opened. Older bottles are not sold or auctioned.
To conclude the visit we pass to the tasting of wine, accompanied by local products of the area. The tasting will be two wines, one white and one red, a curiosity about the gold-colored net that covers the bottle is to avoid false imitations in the past.
THE HOTEL
The City of Wine is a complex that includes the oldest wineries, the most modern, the vineyards and the Hotel Marqués de Riscal. This luxury hotel was designed by the architect Frank Gehry, the same architect of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
This building, built of sandstone and a titanium roof, houses a hotel of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts chain and two restaurants. The Bistro 1860 and the Marqués de Riscal, awarded in 2011 with a 1 Michelin Star.
The hotel offers less than 20 rooms, but now they are expanding in order to offer more. The Spa Vinothérapie Caudalie Marqués de Riscal proposes several treatments based on grapes. There is also an indoor pool, a hammam, a Finnish sauna, a fitness center, and massage services.
AROUND MARQUÉS DE RISCAL WINERY
Organizing a trip through La Rioja vineyards is amazing and visit Laguardia much more. A little city located just 7km from Marques de Riscal winery. Here we are in the Basque country however the wine is called Rioja. Its streets and corners preserve a great medieval flavor and its economy is based on the wine industry, don’t miss it.
