Why it matters
The producer
Remelluri became the first single-vineyard Rioja of the modern era with the release of its 1971 vintage. That decision still describes the estate better than a broad regional label: the property itself, its mountain parcels and its cellar are meant to remain visible in the wine.
The modern winery began in 1967, when Jaime Rodríguez Salís bought the vineyards at the former estate. Today Telmo Rodríguez is the winemaker and Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena is the viticulturist. Pablo Eguzkiza, Telmo's winemaking partner, trained at Château Petrus and has helped change both vineyard work and cellar equipment. The result is a producer where farming and vinification are handled parcel by parcel, then brought together in the estate bottling.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The vineyards lie in the valleys of Valderemelluri, La Granja and Villaescusa, just above Labastida. The elevation runs from 500 to 950 metres, while south-facing slopes receive protection from prevailing northern winds and frost. Those physical differences give the estate a spread of parcels to harvest separately, so Rioja here arrives as a blend assembled from distinct mountain sites instead of one undivided harvest.
No soil type is specified for Remelluri's parcels. The useful site clues are altitude, exposure and slope: vines rise high above Labastida, face south and sit beneath the Sierra de Toloño. That setting places the emphasis on elevation and parcel origin, while the cellar keeps those parcels separate long enough for their different fruit and ripeness levels to be handled individually.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Remelluri's parcels are harvested by hand and vinified separately. Native yeasts carry the fermentations, and the wines receive little new oak, light filtration and light fining. These choices keep each plot's fruit present through the cellar work instead of covering it with a strong new-wood flavour or heavy processing.
The equipment is varied by design. Foudres, glass demijohns, oak vats and cement tanks are used in different sizes, giving the team several ways to ferment and age separate parcels. In the vineyards, Garnacha is moving from trellises toward bush vines, and mixed field plantings are increasing. Both changes alter how the grapes ripen and how the eventual blend is assembled.
Wines to know
The range in view
Remelluri Reserva is the flagship red and the estate bottling to look for when the label's fruit origin matters. Since the 2010 vintage it has been made exclusively from organically farmed grapes grown within the property, blended from traditional Rioja varieties. Reserva 2017 contains Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano, so the bottle combines three grapes within one estate-grown red rather than presenting a single-variety wine.
Reserva 2017 was fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks and open foudres, then aged for 20 months in barrels of different ages and sizes. Stainless steel and foudre keep the fermentation vessels from dictating the wine, while the varied barrels add time and seasoned oak without making new wood the main flavour. The wine is presented as capable of improving over decades in the cellar.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Remelluri Reserva 2017. It is the estate's flagship red, made from organically farmed grapes grown within Remelluri and blended from Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano. Indigenous yeasts, stainless steel tanks and open foudres shape the fermentation, followed by 20 months in barrels of different ages and sizes. The bottle joins the vineyard boundary, the three-grape blend and the cellar method in one place, with enough ageing capacity to follow its changes over time.