Why it matters
The producer
Bodegas Sierra Cantabria began in 1957, when Guillermo Eguren set up the original family winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, a compact village in Rioja Alavesa that sits at the foot of the Cantabrian mountains, north of the Ebro River. The mountain chain is visible from the vineyards. Five generations of Eguren winemaking preceded the formal founding, and the family has stayed in San Vicente ever since, building a range that now stretches from young carbonic reds to an extended single-vineyard bottling called Amancio that spends eighteen months in new French oak before going anywhere near a bottle.
The winery is the founding house of a broader Eguren group that includes Viñedos Sierra Cantabria and other labels, but Bodegas Sierra Cantabria remains the original address: the label that carries the traditional Rioja tier alongside the estate's named-parcel work.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Rioja Alavesa is the sub-zone of the Rioja DOCa that sits in the Basque Country, on the northern bank of the Ebro. It runs cooler and higher than the broader Rioja plain, sheltered from Atlantic weather by the Cantabrian range and pushed toward earlier acidity and more aromatic Tempranillo by altitude and limestone-dominated soils. Wines from this part of Rioja tend to carry more freshness than those from Rioja Alta or Rioja Oriental at equivalent oak levels.
The named parcels that define the top of the Sierra Cantabria range each have a different physical character.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Every vineyard in the Sierra Cantabria portfolio is harvested by hand. The organic farming across the estate, with selective biodynamic practices on key parcels, means the cellar receives fruit from vines managed without synthetic treatments, a decision that takes longer but produces more concentrated and aromatic grapes at the point of picking.
In the cellar, oak type and duration vary sharply by tier. Murmurón, the entry-level red, uses carbonic maceration: whole bunches ferment without crushing, producing a wine with soft tannins, high aromatic freshness, and very little oak contact. The Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva follow the Rioja DOCa's progressive oak and bottle-age requirements, moving from twelve months in oak to extended ageing with increasing complexity.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range at Bodegas Sierra Cantabria moves in a clear arc from fresh to extended. Murmurón is the carbonic maceration red: Tempranillo made whole-bunch, fermented without crushing, and released young. It is light in colour, high in aromatic fruit, soft in tannin, and meant to be drunk within two or three years of vintage. No oak.
The Sierra Cantabria Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva form the traditional Rioja backbone. The Reserva shows bright ruby colour, with aromas of blackberry, spice, and toast that gain complexity as the wine opens. The palate is juicy, with defined fruit, smooth texture, and a long finish. These wines are blended from the estate's Rioja Alavesa vineyards and represent the family's house style rather than a specific parcel.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Sierra Cantabria Reserva. It is the bottle that most clearly shows what the family does with Tempranillo at the Rioja Alavesa address before the single-vineyard premiums enter the conversation. The wine is bright ruby, aromatic with blackberry and dried spice, and carries the smooth texture that characterises the Rioja Alavesa limestone-influenced mid-palate. The oak is integrated rather than dominant, and the finish has enough acidity to hold it together without hardness. It is the range's honest centre: not the entry-level carbonic fruit, not the extended single-vineyard élevage, but the family's clearest statement of what Rioja Reserva looks like when the fruit comes from a specific sub-zone and is farmed without mechanisation.