The winery began in the second half of the 19th century. At the present time, it is still a family…read morewinery in Rioja Alavesa, owned by Juan Pablo De Simón and Milans del Bosch, great-grandson of the founder of the winery. Now, the 5th generation: Pablo, Jaime and María de Simón are assuming the different responsibilities in the company. Our visit was coordinated by email and hosted by the family member, María de Simón Baranda. Maria explained the family history and the decision to bottle their wine under the name of Valserrano. They also have one wine that is labelled El Ribazo which is from a single 35 year old vineyard. We tasted two whites: 2017 Blanco, 2013 Blanco Gran Reserva. Not being white wine fans, we did find the Gran Reserva most pleasant and would recommend it to white wine people. In the reds, beside the El Ribazo, we tasted 2014 Valserrano Finca Monteviejo which is another single vineyard wine from 60 year old vines. Next to those two reds, we tasted their 2011 Gran Reserva, 2015 Graziano and 2016 Mazuela. We found the Mazuela super-dry. The overall winner on this tasting was the 2011 Gran Reserva. Produced from 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano from their best and oldest vineyards. After fermenting at a low temperature to preserve the fruit aromas, it has spent 2 and a half years in American (40%) and French (60%) oak casks and over 3 further years maturing in the bottle cellar. It is a spectacular wine and a great representation of Tempranillo from La Rioja. Once at home, we found it for $35 at Total Wine along with its younger brothers Reserva and Crianza which we did not taste during our visit. We believe from the experience we had, the Crianza and Reserva at much lower prices would be value purchases.

This was so amazing!!! This was my first stop in the Rioja region and a great way to start my…read moreoverall experience. The authenticity of this winery and their love for wine makes the experience. As someone who lives close to Napa and have gone to many wine regions, I love the intimacy, passion and dedication to keeping truth to wine making here at this winery. Had a wonderful one on one tour and tasting. I personally am coming home with 6 bottles all of which are not sold at the states. They partner with Total Wine (who I currently work for) and now I understand why! Pablo de Simón, a son of the owner, made this experience outstanding for me. The whole team welcomed me and were so proud to share their story, HIGHLY recommend!!!

We came here on a Rioja wine tour in October. Of the three wineries we visited this was our overall…read morefavorite. While it isn't a vineyard setting, the tasting room was still beautiful. It was modern and upscale, but still felt comfortable and casual enough. We thoroughly enjoyed the wine, charcuterie, and education from our tasting room associate. We learned a lot about the Rioja wine region including the varietals and the labels on the bottle. Our associate spoke pretty good English and was happy to answer questions and explain things further. Of the 3 wines we tasted we ended up going home with bottles of two of them.

I call myself a wine enthusiast and don't shy from visiting wineries of all levels from older to…read moremodern, for me its the actual wine that matters. The reds here are very well balanced full bodied and just amazing. Worth the visit. We were lucky to have a flight tasting between a winery tour by an employee who was sooo kind to sneak us in. We tried the 3 reds that were recommended by her, which her name is Carmen (as well). ha-ha. Anyhow, so book a tour to see the entire winery and to get to try the reds. By luck we got to do the tasting w/o a tour booked. Maybe since we share the same name and we speak Spanish. :-) You will not regret visiting this bodega, as they call it in Spain.

This restaurant is owned by the winery next door. We decided to try it out since it was right next…read moredoor and we were hungry. What a GREAT choice!! I was so happy with the food. A very elegant and classy place with high quality food and GREAT service. The potato and chorizo stew was excellent. The lamb rack was exceptional. Yes! Yelp Now that I have been yelping for a while, I realize what a cool application this really is. Yelp has become my "go to" site whenever I go to a new city around the world. I've also been able to communicate with yelp friends from around the world whenever I travel to a new city in order to get advice of where to eat and also for business information. Yelp is also a great way to keep track of your past experiences and it has become a digital record of where I have been and how much I enjoyed those locations. Yelp is also really great place to connect with people in your own town to see what is going on and what is fun and which restaurants are new and exciting. Try it, you may very well enjoy becoming a yelper also.

Rioja is perhaps one of the most famous wines in Spain. It is a ubiquitous red known the world…read moreover. How often do you see a white rioja however? Though they make a whole array here, the Erre Punto is one of those rarer examples of a white rioja. Strong in stone fruit and citrus, a great by the glass by itself or paired with food that is rich in salt and/or fats.

In the early morning hours, we had Gumer as the presenter of the wines. We took a 1 hour tour and…read morewere able to taste all their wines for FREE. As visitors to Rioja quickly discover, free tours and free wine tasting are not that common any more in Rioja. Some places seem to want to make more money on visitors without selling any wine. The chant of "vinotourism" is omnipresent in la Rioja. Sad to see. It reduces the Old World charm to have visitors pay for the wineries to promote their product. What happened to the concept of the customer showing their appreciation through the purchase of the product? The bottle price-point at Bodegas Ramirez de la Piscina is really good and the wines were excellent. The Crianza and Reserva were our favorites. The Gran Reserva for the cost was superb. We did not drink a lot of whites while in Rioja, but this one was blended with Viura and two other white varietals which made it distinctive and very pleasant.

Came here on a wine tour through Rioja in October. This was our final stop and quite the surprise…read moreas it was inside the high walls of a city/village. This was definitely the most unique winery of the tour, and possibly one of the most uniques ones I've ever experienced. Based on the size and look of it when we walked in, we were expecting it to just be a tasting room. However, it was indeed a working winery, the wine making just happened underground! I've been in wine caves before, but never like these where the wine making process is done in the caves and tunnels as well. A very cool thing to learn about and see first hand. The caves were pretty expensive and fun to explore with our tasting host. At the end of the tour we got to taste two of their wines in the cave, and enjoyed a cheese and meat pairing with the two. We really enjoyed one of the wines we tried here and ended up getting a couple bottles of it. The wines were extremely reasonably priced so we also ended up getting a couple bottles that we didn't try. We've had one of them so far and it was fabulous. Also cool about this winery is that all of the bottles/labels are based on fables. It was very interesting to learn about each one.

I seriously can't recommend Ostatu enough. family run, organic practices followed, amazing list of…read morewines, and kind employee team- what more can you ask for. I can't wait to go back and I'll treasure the gran reserva and other special wines I brought back to the US. The tasting room is gorgeous and so peaceful.

We found this charming little winery with Basque Tours and had a great time. In addition to a half…read morecase of the Tinto, we nabbed ourselves a glorious magnum of Rioja all at a fraction of the price we'd pay in Napa, CA. The also have an excellent Reserva (100% Tempranillo)...heck we didn't have a single thing we didn't enjoy! I just saw on their FB page that they now have a Rose! Jealous I didn't get to try that. I'm sure it's excellent. It was a bit on the cold and rainy so we didn't get to enjoy the charming outdoor patio (pictures uploaded) but the tasting room was cozy and our server spent a good long time with us telling us the story of the vineyard and the grape sources. I wish I could remember her name after all the wine, because she was quite a good hostess! Pro tip: Leave room in your suitcase for this delicious wine.

Berarte Viñedos y Bodegas is a family owned winery located in Villabuena de Álava, Rioja Alavesa,…read morein the heart of the D.O.C. They are the third generation operating the family vineyards and winery. They own 14 hectares of vineyards and make HIGH quality wines. José Antonio Berrueco, handed over the management responsibility of the vineyards and winery to his three children in 2012. Inmaculada (inma) Berrueco, the oldest daughter is the one responsible for the day-to-day activities while being supported by her family. Inma was our host for a tasting and a delightful tour. Outside on the veranda, we enjoyed a beautiful day overlooking their vineyards. Our tasting began with White Wine Semi-Sweet. It is 100% Viura which is the La Rioja white wine grape. The bottle was from the 2013 harvest and at 12% alcohol it was a delightful wine. On the nose, lightly floral, with definite ripen fruit aromas On the palate, smooth and silky, with VERY DISTINCTIVE flavors of peach, mango and pineapple. Because of the semi sweet approach taken, this example of Viura grape did not suffer from the bitter and dry mouth found with virtually all other Viuras we tasted at 24 other wineries. Outstanding wine at an outstanding price. Moving to the reds, we tasted the Joven (young) and the Crianza. Later during the tour, we sampled the Reserva from the storage tank. Each of the reds were fruit forward and totally in a "ready-to-drink" condition with the Crianza and Reserva having more ageing potential. We loved these wines and they were definitely in the top 3 of wines we drank during our travels. Inma showed us all the production capacity improvements that are a result of their expansion plans. The wines are available in Europe and can be shipped directly from the winery to the US. We wish the Berrueco family success in the future as they are the example to follow in the world of La Rioja where unfortunately the MEGABUSINESS and ENOTOURISM of the big guys seeking only sales has started to adversely affect the local industry and degrade the quality of the wines. The winery building is a typical and traditional construction of the region, built in the 80s. The winery is located in the centre of the village, between two streets at different elevation and has 5 floor levels which allow use of gravity for the entire vinification process. 5th level is for the reception of the harvested grapes (main street) 4th level is where the open concrete fermentation vats are located. Here the alcoholic fermentation takes place. 3rd level is separated in two areas: one below are the fermentation vats where the must settles and is removed. Second area is used for bottling, packaging and shipping. 2nd level (underground) is where the closed concrete vats are located and where the malolactic fermentation takes place. 1st level (underground) is where the oak barrels and the area for bottle ageing are located. There are American and French oak barrels in the winery.

I've been on many wine tours in my time - Napa, Tuscany, Bordeaux, etc. - and I must say, this tour…read morewas truly something special. Inma, our guide for the day, was the best tour guide I've ever had; yes, THE BEST. She's truly an expert when it comes to Rioja - we found she often knew more than the wineries' own tour guides! And, importantly, she caters the experience to each client (and I should mention she speaks absolutely perfect English). Sure, she'll take you to the bigger, more commercial wineries like Marques de Riscal & Bodegas Ysios, which are both visually stunning and worth going to - but, because she takes the time to learn your tastes she'll introduce you to wineries right up your alley that you'd never otherwise know about, many of which aren't open to the public. And thanks to her local roots & connections, the vintners quite literally give her the keys to their private operations (Gontes comes to mind). Inma caps the day with a delicious late lunch in a private wine cave at Castillo de San Vicente - again, not something you can just go and do; only the locals have access. The cherry on top: her tortilla de patatas is absolutely delicious. All in all, one of the best single days I've had on vacation my entire life. A fantastic experience that I'd recommend to absolutely anyone.

Incredible Rioja Wine Experience with Inma-…read more My boyfriend and I did the Unusual Suspects private tour with Inma. This experience was the highlight of our trip to Spain and a huge part of that was Inma. She taught us about Rioja wine and the region without overloading us with information, made us feel so comfortable, and the experiences at the incredible wineries were due to her relationships with each of the owners, which is a testament to her as a person. We visited three different wineries and had the best lunch that Inma prepared herself with fresh ingredients from our own garden. My boyfriend still talks about her Tortilla de Patatas. We had an additional day in Logrono before heading to San Sebastian and Inma sent us a detailed list of recommendations and even helped us book a bus to San Sebastian, which was a much better option than the train we had booked. I cannot praise Inma and this experience enough.