Roberto Frías Iruzubieta, Director of Viticulture of Grupo La Rioja Alta, S.A., has been named Viticulturist of the Year in the Rioja Report 2026 by Tim Atkin MW, one of the most influential international commentators on Spanish wine. This well-deserved recognition highlights a professional career spanning more than three decades devoted to viticulture, as well as an approach to vineyard management grounded in technical expertise, respect for tradition, and a deep connection to the land and its territory, rooted in a viticultural heritage that goes back generations.
Born in Cenicero (La Rioja) in 1968, Roberto Frías holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and a Master’s degree in Oenology and Viticulture from the Universidad de La Rioja. He has built a solid professional career both in Spain and abroad. Throughout his career, he has held senior technical and viticultural roles in leading wineries and groups across appellations such as Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas, Somontano, Penedès, Cava, Cigales, Arribes del Duero and Málaga, as well as in Mendoza (Argentina). Since January 2013, Roberto Frías has served as Director of Viticulture of Grupo La Rioja Alta, S.A., where he coordinates and defines the viticultural strategy for La Rioja Alta, S.A. and Torre de Oña in the D.O.Ca. Rioja, Viñedos y Bodegas Áster in the D.O. Ribera del Duero, and Lagar de Fornelos in the D.O. Rías Baixas. His work integrates sustainability criteria, technical precision and respect for the vineyard as the cornerstone of the quality of the group’s wines.
Beyond his professional role, Frías maintains a personal and emotional bond with viticulture. Together with his father, he tends a small family holding of 5.5 hectares of vineyards in Cenicero, inherited from his ancestors. “Working the same vines cultivated by my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, and learning from an ancestral form of viticulture passed down from generation to generation, is a true privilege,” he notes.
The recognition by Master of Wine Tim Atkin as Winemaker of the Year underscores not only Roberto Frías’s technical excellence, but also a philosophy of viticulture based on balance between science and tradition, innovation and respect for the vineyard—values that form part of the DNA of La Rioja Alta, S.A.
