Why it matters
The producer
Valdemar farms 300 hectares of vineyards in Rioja Alavesa and produces around 180,000 cases a year, making it one of the larger estate-based operations in the sub-region. That scale comes with a family history long enough to span five generations. The current fifth generation, siblings Ana and Jesús Martínez Bujanda, runs both the Rioja operation and a second winery opened in 2019 in Walla Walla, Washington.
The range centres on classical Rioja reds: Tempranillo-led wines aged through the DOCa's classification tiers, including Conde Valdemar Gran Reserva. Alongside the reds, Valdemar holds a specific place in Rioja's history for a white wine it made in 1988, the first barrel-fermented white produced in the appellation.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Rioja Alavesa sits in the province of Álava, on the northern bank of the Ebro river. The sub-region has a more Atlantic character than Rioja Alta to the south or the warmer Rioja Oriental to the east: cooler temperatures slow ripening, and Tempranillo grown here tends to carry firmer acidity and a tighter tannic frame than the same grape grown further south.
Oyón-Oion is a small town near the western edge of Rioja Alavesa, close to the regional boundary. Vineyards around the town sit on gently sloping terrain with limestone in the subsoil. That limestone base holds water through dry summers and drains freely after autumn rain, which keeps vine roots working deep rather than wide. The DOCa label on a Valdemar bottle reads Rioja, followed by the classification tier; the sub-regional designation Rioja Alavesa is optional on label but central to the wine's character.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Valdemar farms all 300 hectares of its Rioja Alavesa vineyards as estate holdings and draws its 180,000-case annual production entirely from those plots. Keeping production within owned vineyards at that scale requires consistent management across a large area of the sub-region.
The winery participates in the Rioja DOCa's Viñedo Singular program, a quality tier that requires individual vineyards to meet stricter criteria around vine age, yield, and terroir specificity. Wines under this classification carry the name of the specific vineyard on the label rather than the broad appellation, connecting fruit from a defined plot to a bottle.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Valdemar range runs from entry Crianza wines through Reserva to the Gran Reserva tier, with Viñedo Singular bottlings sitting outside the standard hierarchy and linked to specific named vineyards. All the reds are built on Tempranillo, the grape that dominates Rioja Alavesa.
The Conde Valdemar Gran Reserva blends Tempranillo at 85% with Graciano at 10% and Maturana tinta at 5%. Graciano is a high-acid, late-ripening variety that adds aromatic lift and a firm backbone to Tempranillo-led blends; without it, Gran Reserva reds can flatten over their long ageing. Maturana tinta is a historically rare indigenous Rioja grape, contributing deeper colour and tannic weight in small proportions. The blend is aged to Gran Reserva classification requirements before release, arriving in the glass with garnet depth, black plum, and layers of secondary oak character.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Conde Valdemar Gran Reserva. It is a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, and Maturana tinta, aged through the full Gran Reserva classification before release. In the glass it is dense and developed: black plum, coffee, truffle, and a long smooth finish. The Graciano keeps the acidity alive so the weight does not close the wine down. This is the bottle that shows what Valdemar does with its estate fruit across a long cellar programme: classical Rioja at a production scale that still maintains definition.