Recent decades

In the mid-forties the recently-appointed director Don Nicolás Salterain Elgoibar, after 13 business trips to carry out negotiations, was able to present to the then Chairman, Don Nicolás Alberdi, the purchase of the Labastida bodega, situated in the district of La Horca. There in 1,200 casks are kept with tens of thousands of bottles used for ageing of "Gran Reserva" wines until 1997.

In 1946, an annex to the first plant in Haro, the bureau, which still forms part of the present-day offices, was built.

Meanwhile the directors held their regular board meetings in both Haro and Labastida. Some of the directors, like Don Pedro (wearing his famous cape) and his brother Don Paco Ortiz de Zúñiga y López de Alda, would arrive there in the old double-decker buses run by the Alavesa Company. The latter brother, chairman in 1953, was succeeded in this position by his son, Don Eduardo Ortiz de Zúñiga Montero.

In 1952, the company bought its first bottling line, the first GIRONDINE line in the Rioja, with a capacity of 900/1,000 bottles per hour. This machine can now be seen in the gardens of the bodega. Until then, all the wine had been bottled and corked by hand. Shortly after this Don Manuel Legorburu Bilbao became Chairman.

But times were changing as were prices. In 1965, when Don Fernando Maguregui Ulargui was chairman, the 3rd year vintage was sold at 17 ptas per bottle, the 6th year at 19 ptas, the Viña Ardanza at22 ptas and the Reserva 904 at 40 ptas per bottle.

In 1974, a new brand name was introduced on the market, "Viña Arana". However it was not a new wine, it was the new commercial name for the classic 6-year-old vintage. It came from the 1969 harvest. It is a fine, delicate, light wine with mild and intense aromas. The name came from the present Vice-Chairman, Don Jose María de Arana Aizpurua, and it is the type of wine that the people from Bordeaux, who worked in the Haro bodegas, called "Rioja Claret". This was to differentiate it from the so-called "red wines" normally processed from the racking of the rich wines from the lower and Navarra riversides of the Ebro river.

This wine was presented as "Crianza" or aged wine, because traditionally in the Rioja, wines were only known with or without ageing or "Crianza". The terms Reserva and Gran Reserva were introduced at a later date. Some years later, within the same decade of the 70's, "Viña Arana" became a Reserva.

In 1970, a new plant for vats was built. Since 1987, having established that stainless steel vats offered a great improvement over oak in the fermentation process (and only in fermentation), both in terms of hygiene and in temperature control, the vats in the harvesting plant have been changed for stainless steel. However we still keep the 32 original oak vats for second fermentation and storage purpuses.

Also in the 70s, the last two delegations representing the bodega, in San Sebastian and Madrid, were closed. There began a significant expansion of vineyard holding with the purchase of lands in Tudelilla (32 hectares), Montecillo (25 hectares) and Rodezno (the Viña Arana estate of 35 hectares and the Viña Alberdi estate of 22 hectares).

The expansion of the bodega and vineyars required new investments in casks, so in 1973, the land next to our original buildings was bought from Don Otto Horcher and a year later a dining hall was opened there. The same building included the cellars of "Marqués de Haro" and "Viña Alberdi". This last brand name was the substitute for the previous 3 year old vintage. It owes its name to Don Nicolás Alberdi who, as we mentioned earlier, was our Chairman in the forties. This brand name was registered in 1978, the first vintage being that of 1974. At present it is our youngest wine and the only "Crianza" wine we offer. However, it is quite possible that in the not-too-distant future, with the agreement of our enologist, we may offer it as a Reserva. It already fulfills the official requirements, but these are less stringent than the ones we impose ourselves.

Don Fernando Maguregui Ulargui, a good man and an expert administrator, had, for reasons of health, offered his resignation as chairman over some years. In 1979, his request was accepted and Don Guillermo de Aranzabal Alberdi, proposed by his predecessor, was appointed chairman, a position he has held to the present day.

Expansion, which is now culminating, began in the 70s. The reinvestment of each year'profits was not sufficient to finance our investments and we had to complement it withseveral increases of capital between 1973 and 1977, with premium stock reaching almost 200 million pesetas. Since 1978, and up to the present day, we have been able to finance our development ourselves.

The 80s saw an important extension of our installations and vineyards as well as the culmination of what has perhaps been the most important achievement in the bodega in many years - the definition of product. Contrary to the trends at the time, it was agreed to increase the ageing of all our wines, both in cask and in bottle. At the same timeemphasis was placed on the quality of the grapes which enter the cellars and, as far as possible, self-sufficiency in this respect.

This radical stance in favour of quality demanded a very heavy investment for a family business of medium size, but all the shareholders agreed with the proposed policy and accepted the sacrifices that such an investment would mean. So in 1986 the ageing tunnel was built, as were the "Viña Arana" and "Viña Ardanza" plants, extended in 1990 to store 20,600 Bordeaux casks, bringing the total to 32,000 casks.

To better ensure the quality of the grapes and our own autonomy the "La Cuesta" estate, renamed "Viña Ardanza", was purchased. It is situated in the village of Cenicero and consists of 84 hectares, all of which are dedicated to Tempranillo.

As to the definition of product to which we referred earlier, there were also some significant changes. Some brands disappearing whilst others were introduced. One of these changes occurred in 1980 when Don Fernando Fernández Cormenzana, at that time acting manager, developed a charming idea suggested by the shareholder Don Jose Ramón de Aranzabal and promoted the creation, with a select number of private clients, of the CLUB DE COSECHEROS DE LA RIOJA ALTA, S.A. A special wine was chosen of the 1976 vintage, offered as a Crianza wine, although the quality was gradually improved until its present status as a Reserva, along the lines of the "Clarets" mentioned earlier.

In 1985, a brand name was registered which will be much spoken of in the future - "Marqués de Haro", and in 1988 there appeared the most recent wine to be introduced by the bodega, the "Viña Ardanza Blanco", a Reserva which corresponds perfectly with our philosophy of offering only traditional Rioja wines.

At the same time the last young white wine to be offered by our cellar was abandoned and there began an earnest search for a white wine with personality, with elements to make it different from other Spanish wines. The consequence of this was the acquisition and renovation of a traditional bodega situated in the heart of Galicia, "Lagar de Fornelos, S.A.", who commercialises the "Lagar de Cervera" brand. Its 72 hectares of 100% Albariño grapes ensure maximum quality.

The early nineties have represented one of the periods of greater activity in our company due both to the favourable reception all our products have enjoyed on markets both at home and abroad, and to the wider horizons the bodega has set for its development over recent years.

In 1990 and 1991, 75 hectares were acquired within the municipalities of La Horra and Anguix in the heart of the Ribera de Duero region, an area which produces wines of high quality.

In 1994 and within a period of just four months, the Botellero del Jardín bottle cellar was built in Haro. To do so, it was necessary to excavate entirely the yard of the bodega, replace all the earth and then cover it with grass. This new bottle cellar has capacity for around 2.5 million bottles.

On January 27th 1995, we purchased a 96.33% holding in Torre de Oña, S.A., a beautiful bodega located in Páganos-Laguardia, producer of Barón de Oña Reserva red wine. With this acquisition, we intend to place ourselves among producers of some of the finest wines in the Rioja Alavesa.

In the same timeframe, we continued to extend our holdings with the purchase of a new 25 hectare vineyard in the town of Cihuri.

In January 1996, work began on the extension to the bodega in Labastida. This work is being done on our own land and at a distance of about 1,500 metres from our main plant in Haro. This new bodega, created under the company name "Comercializadora La Rioja Alta, S.L.U.", will carry out the entire wine-making process and part of the ageing process, both in cask and in bottle. This will allow us to obtain considerable improvements in quality, especially in the fermentation process, as the new bodega will be provided with state-of-the-art technology. It will also enable us to increase our production somewhat and introduce a higher level of flexibility in the ageing processes of the different vintages.