Viñedos y Bodegas de la Marquesa - Valserrano — Attraction in Villabuena de Álava/Eskuernaga

The winery began in the second half of the 19th century. At the present time, it is still a family winery 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...

Diego was an excellent tour guide, and my wife and I really enjoyed visiting the winery with him. We first planned our trip from the US to Rioja because we fell in love with Valserrano wines. Experiencing the winery in person and tasting some of their wines we cannot get in the US was quite the treat. We even tasted wines straight from the barrel not yet done aging. It was priceless to see the exact place where the wine we love comes from. We will continue to drink Valserrano wines at home, and now each time we do, we will have the memories to recall...

Fabulous wine tour and lunch wine tasting. The passion for wine production is so amazing. Our guide "Esti" was so charming and knowledgeable about her product it made the visit unforgettable! We have visited large scale wine producer tours, this is so much better and personal! Totally...