Why it matters
The producer
Bodegas Las Cepas farms Tempranillo in Uruñuela, a village in Rioja Alta, the western and most elevated sub-zone of the Rioja DOCa. The family has cultivated vineyards here across several generations. What sets them apart in the region is not scale but timing: they began farming organically in 1996, seven years before organic wine production became commercially common for small Rioja estates, and held that commitment long enough to launch certified organic bottles under their own label in 2003.
The listed wine is Boca Chancla, a Tempranillo-only red. It has firm, lively tannins.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Rioja Alta sits in the western reaches of the Rioja DOCa, where the Ebro valley narrows and altitude climbs. Uruñuela, one of the sub-zone's smaller villages, benefits from that elevation: cooler growing temperatures than the flatter, hotter Rioja Baja to the east, longer hang time for Tempranillo, and the kind of slow-developing acidity that allows a wine to stay fresh across a meal rather than flattening out after the first pour.
Rioja Alta is where French oak became most deeply rooted in Spanish winemaking. The tradition arrived in the nineteenth century when Bordeaux merchants crossed the Pyrenees after phylloxera devastated French vineyards, and Rioja producers adopted the barrique alongside the grape.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate has farmed organically since 1996, which at Rioja Alta's latitude means no synthetic herbicides, fungicides, or fertilisers across the vine rows. Organic viticulture in a continental climate with warm summers and cold winters requires more active vineyard management than conventional farming: canopy work, copper and sulphur treatments for disease pressure, and careful timing around the humidity windows that favour fungal problems.
Boca Chancla Semi Crianza is made from 100 percent Tempranillo. The tannins are described as al dente, meaning they are present and firm on the palate rather than polished smooth.
Wines to know
The range in view
The confirmed range centres on Boca Chancla, a Tempranillo-only red available in a Semi Crianza format.
The appearance is ruby garnet with a slow, dense fall in the glass and garnet evolution toward deep red at the rim. The aromatic range is wide: rose petal and blueberry from the Tempranillo fruit, wild strawberry, vanilla, graphite, marjoram, coffee, and a saline mineral thread that runs through both nose and palate. The overall character is aromatic and layered rather than simple.