Why it matters
The producer
Bodegas Arizcuren is a small DOCa Rioja producer based in Logroño, drawing fruit from 16 hectares of family vines outside Quel in Rioja Oriental. Javier Arizcuren is an architect who also pursued studies in enology and viticulture, and the estate he built around these parcels reflects both disciplines: methodical separation of each plot, minimal intervention in the cellar, and a focus on varieties that dominated this corner of Rioja long before Tempranillo became the region's calling card.
The vines are old. Individual blocks range from 40 to over 100 years in age. Alongside Mazuelo, Garnacha, and Viura, Javier farms heritage varieties including Calagraño, Tinta Velasco, and Miguel de Arco, recovered from ancestral plantings on the family estate. The wines sell in over 20 countries and appear in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Quel sits in Rioja Oriental, the easternmost and warmest of the three Rioja sub-zones, where the Sierra de Yerga provides altitude and cooler air than the low-lying plains to the north. Arizcuren's parcels are on that sierra, 16 hectares spread across old family holdings that the family has farmed for six generations.
Javier makes the wines 40 kilometres away in Logroño, where his urban cellar opened in 2016 beside his architecture studio. Rioja Oriental has historically supplied bulk wine to blenders elsewhere in the appellation; the DOCa Rioja qualified status Arizcuren obtained in 2012 for his small production marked a shift toward estate bottling and parcel-level winemaking.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 16 hectares in Rioja Oriental are planted to Mazuelo, Garnacha, and Viura as the primary varieties, with old blocks of Calagraño, Tinta Velasco, and Miguel de Arco also under vine. These heritage varieties were present in the ancestral plantings and would otherwise have disappeared from Rioja's active register. Javier farms with certified organic methods and biodynamic practices, avoiding synthetic treatments.
Grapes are hand-harvested and fermented separately by parcel using ambient yeasts. Keeping each plot apart at harvest and through fermentation allows Javier to follow the character of each block rather than blending it away at intake. For certain wines, ageing takes place in unlined clay amphora, which allow more oxygen exchange than oak without imparting wood flavour. Annual production is approximately 12,500 bottles.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range is built around single-variety, single-method bottlings. Solo Mazuelo is 100% Mazuelo from old vines, with cold maceration of two to four days before fermentation, followed by eight months in amphora. Solo Garnacha takes the same approach with Garnacha, using the variety's red-fruit character and round tannins as the centre of the wine.
Monte Gatún broadens the picture: 70% Tempranillo, 20% Mazuelo, and 10% Garnacha in a blend that shows what each variety contributes when they share a vat. The Solo bottlings are the narrowest and most parcel-focused wines in the range; Monte Gatún is the wider, more approachable entry point.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Solo Mazuelo is 100% Mazuelo from old family vines on the Sierra de Yerga, cold-macerated and fermented in parcel, aged eight months in unlined amphora. The grape is grippy and deeply coloured, the amphora adds oxygen exchange without oak character, and the wine finishes with firm acidity and tannic grip.