Bodega Viña Real — Attraction in Laguardia

CVNE is a company who has multiple wineries in their group. In Haro, they provide a cross-section of their products to taste: Cune, Contina, Imperial and Viña Real wineries. We did not like the Cune Gran Reserva. We were impressed with the Imperial Gran Reserva, but after seeing the high price, we thought better to avoid it. We tasted Gran Reservas from Contina & Viña Real and thought the Viña Real had some good points.

We were pleasantly surprised when we visited Viña Real for a tour a few days later that their Crianza and Reserva were very good, some of the best Crianza and Reserva we tasted from 25 wineries in La Rioja. The reason for visiting Viña Real was for the tour. It was spectacular.

Having been on 10 tours in La Rioja, we were pleased to have an energetic young lady present the facilities in about a 1 hour tour in English. The production operation is different than most other La Rioja wineries. With a huge crane, they lift the fruit into the tops of the fermentation tanks to avoid any pumping. They use the same method to do what is known as the "punch-down", cycling the fruit and juice from the bottom of the tank to the top of the tank as fermentation proceeds. The fermented grape juice is separated from the "must" by gravity with the must being shoveled out of the tank when cleaning is needed.

Oak barrel ageing occurs on the floor below the fermentation tanks and gravity is used to fill the oak barrels. During the ageing cycle, the barrels have to be "racked" to even out the ageing process and to remove sediments that build up. We were fortunate to see the racking operation being performed on a modern piece of equipment that does the transfer from barrel to barrel and washes out the barrel. It was fascinating to see the whole operation being performed in a matter of minutes using one machine operator and one forklift operator.

Since La Rioja DOC requires bottle aging, we also visited the bottle aging room. The barrel and bottle management system is a fascinating inventory challenge considering that the winemaker is involved in the process to tweak the wines that are getting "ready to drink".

The tour concluded with the tasting. Viña Real Crianza is available on the West Coast (USA) for about $15 USD and on the East Coast for under $11. A real deal. The Reserva which we found to our liking is priced accordingly a bit higher, but still represents a true value in fine La Riojana...

This place has hours listed as closing at 1830, both on trip advisor, Google, and their website. We showed up at 1805. The gate guard was visibly upset when we pulled up to the gate. He motioned for me to get out of the car to come speak to him. Through hand motions and glaring, he clearly got his point across that we should come by the next day (which we definitely won't be doing). Even when I showed him an email from his company telling us to come by anytime today, he still glared, huffed and waved for us to go away immediately. He then motioned for us that he was going to open his beloved gate and made it VERY clear we were to enter to turn around only. In this day and age this kind of behavior is unacceptable. We were not rude, we were not gruff, we were not late. It'd be a different story if we showed up at 1829, but a 20 min wine tasting right before closing doesn't sound imposing to me. This was also not something lost in cultural translation. Facial expressions don't need much to be interpreted. He treated us like juvenile delinquents on private property. Also, this winery is one of hundreds in the region, at peak tourist season. bro, you're the face of your company and interacting with people from all countries. Waving your arms angrily is very caveman like. Getting frustrated visibly angry and sternly telling visitors to leave, isn't the best way to get folks into your place and enjoy your wine. I'm sure the actual wine is great. But so are the other wineries which we'll be...

Four of us had a wonderful visit - despite it being busy at harvest time, we were most welcome guests thanks to our guide, Angelique. We opted for the tasting and tour, and got to see the workings of this very famous winery that continues to produce age-worthy Riojas that represent a standard of great wine quality. This qualify of Bordeaux wine would be at least 3 times as expensive. Viña Real is definitely worth a visit if you have a little time to spend in or near Logroño. Our group will remember the visit for the passion of the team, their warmth and the quality...