Wine Touring in Aldeanueva de Ebro

On the road from Logroño to Zaragoza, about half way between Calahorra and Alfaro, you’ll find find the small village of Aldeanueva de Ebro known locally as el pueblo de las tres mentiras, the “town of the three lies”, as it is not a village, nor is it new, nor is it on the Ebro, but as it is on the Ruta del Vino Rioja Oriental, and home to several premium wineries. The village celebrates several festivals during the year. The first weekend in May is the start of the Fiestas de la Juventud, that includes an encierro with wild vacas and other festival events for the children, plus the Jornadas del Vino u La Viña, wine tastings at the local wineries for the adults. The week-long Festival of San Bartolomé, the patron saint, begins 23 August. The two-day Fiestas de la Virgen de Los Remedios begins on 7 September and includes an encierro and procession in honor of the Virgin of Los Remedios. The 7-day winter celebrations begin 31 December, ending on Epiphany, 6 January.  The winter festivities includes bull runs, gastronomy events, a handcraft fair and wine tastings. The villagers gather for the hogueras, the bonfires in the streets for San Antón on 16 January and again on 20 January for the Hogueras de San Sebastián.

Dining in Aldeanueva de Ebro

For lunch in the area try El Quizal, General Gallarza 11, in Autol. Open Tuesday toSunday for lunch from 1:30 to 4:00 pm. Casa Javi in Rincón de Soto is another nearby option, closed on Mondays. Or you can consider one of our other dining recommendations in Calahorra or Alfaro.

Wineries of interest

Bodegas Álvarez Alfaro

Pablo Álvarez Alfaro opened his small family winery in 1890, establishing his first wine sales office in San Sebastián in 1895, selling only wines grown in his own vineyards. The new winery was opened in 1999 a few minutes north of Aldeanueva de Ebro by Pablo Bretón Ruiz and is still in the hands of the family, the 4th generation of artisan winemakers. The aging cellar holds 1300 225-liter barrels of American and French oak, where the wines are racked every four months instead of the usual twice a year.  The winery, with 62 hectares of vineyards, is located a few minutes north of Aldeanueva de Ebro along the LR-384.  

Email Pablo Ruiz at info@bodegasalvarezalfaro.com or call (+34) 941 144 210 for additional information, or to arrange a visit.

Bodegas Real Agrado

The journey began for Viñedos de Alfaro in 1974 when 100 hectares of vineyards, between 300 and 650 meters above sea-level, were planted between Aldeanueva and Alfaro. In 2005 they began to build a new winery in the middle of the vineyards and started producing their own wines. In 2008 the winery opened then became part of the El Gaitero Family (Galicia) in 2018.

You can email info@realagrado.com or call (+34) 941 142 389 for information or to request a visit the the estate.

Bodegas Viñedos de Aldeanueva

The association was founded in November 1956 by a group of local growers, the partners joining together to unite against the few buyers of bulk grapes who took advantage of the dispersed offering of the growers in the small town. The winery was expanded in 1995 and a new management team took over in 2001. The cooperative, the largest in the Rioja, with 850 members, has some 2850 hectares of vineyards that extend from the Ebro river to the high slopes of Mount Yerga, the largest plots being the Tempranillo vineyards, 228 hectares, and Garnacha, 152 hectares. There are three cellars holding 15,000 barrels, mostly American oak, for the aging of crianza, reserva and gran reserva wines.  

The wineries belonging to the association are Viñedos de Aldeanueva, Fincas de Azabache and Bodegas Viña Herminia, plus Cosecheros y Criadores del Alto Ebro, which bottles the surplus wines of Viñedos de Aldeanueva, selling them at an unbeatable quality/price ratio. 

You can request a visit online, or call (+34) 941 163 039 to arrange a tour of the facilities.

Bodegas Fincas de Azabache

Azabache now has its own beautiful modern winery with cutting-edge technology which only adds to the tradition that began in 1956 when a group of local wine growers opened their own bodega to market their top-range organic wines. The new aging cellar holds 12,000 barrels. The new winery also has its own restaurant and a professional tasting room. Officially certified as organic.

Email info@fincasdeazabache.com, call (+34) 941 163 039, or contact them online for additional information, or to arrange a visit to the winery and vineyards.

Bodegas Quinta Avenida

The modern winery with 400 hectares of vineyards was founded in 2000 with the idea of ​​creating a modern, elegant winery. Opening in 2001, it is under the direction of Fernando Martinez and is one of the 10 wineries owned by Manzanos Wines. Their Quinta Avenida 5 Crianza is a blend of Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo and Tempranillo, spending a minimum of 12 months in new French oak barrels.

Visits to the winery are by appointment only. You can contact them by email at comercial@quintaavenida.es, or by calling (+34) 941 163 655 to arrange a tour and tasting.

Bodegas del Medievo

The winery, managed by Joseba Almaraz, was founded in 2002, and has 130 hectares of vineyards in the highest area of Aldeanueva de Ebro, in the foothills of the Sierra de Yerga, between 400 and 550 meters. The 1000 m2 cellar contains 2,500 barrels of American and French oak. Medievo wines are the fruit of the work of generations of farmers who form this small group of artisans; Bobadilla, Sota and Moreno, and the winemaker Santiago Garde. 

Contact them online, email info@bodegasdelmedievo.com, or call (+34) 941 163 141, to arrange a visit to their tasting room with views overlooking the vineyard.

Bodega Viñas Nuevas

This small family winery in Aldeanueva de Ebro is in the hands of the Ruiz Ruiz brothers, Enrique, the oenologist and Francisco, viticulturist, overseeing the production of their new project, Laetus, 100% Graciano. Cristina handles everything else. The winery was expanded in 2004 to accommodate the increase in production.

A visit to the winery includes a walk through the vineyards. Call (+34) 629 490 828 or email Cristina at info@laetusrioja.com for additional information, or to arrange a tour and tasting.

Bodega Viñedos Ruiz Jiménez

After more than 15 years growing grapes on their 65 hectares vineyards located from 400 to 600 meters of altitude, they began making their own organic wines, and in 1998 founded the winery in Aldeanueva de Ebro.  This was the first of only two wineries in La Rioja whose vineyards were certified by International Demeter, the biodynamic certification body, 61 have been certified as organic. Francisco Ruiz, director of the winery stated that “Today organic viticulture is the exception but tomorrow it will be the norm”. 

The winery is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Contact the winery online, by emailing francisco@vinedosruizjimenez.es, or Patricia at export@vinedosruizjimenez.es. You can also call (+34) 941 163 577 for additional information or to schedule a visit.

Bodega Sendero Royal

Located next to Bodegas Álvarez Alfaro is another family of winemakers and breeders, and collector of classic cars. Belonging to the Gonzalo Ruiz Pastor family, the new winery was founded in 1998, and is surrounded by 5-hectares of vineyards with another 60 hectares, which have been in the family for generations, on the the slopes of Monte Yerga. The aging warehouse holds 600 barrels of American and French oak. 

The family offers tours of the winery Monday to Saturday with a tasting of two wines by appointment. Request a tour online, call (+34) 941 743 999 / 696 411 492, or email them at info@senderoroyal.com to schedule a visit to the winery.

Bodegas Lucas

Founded in 2007, the Inédito wines from winemaker Luis Arnedo, a fifth generation of a family of winegrowers from Aldeanueva de Ebro, and the first winemaker in his family, are exclusively from their own 38 hectares of vineyards of native grapes, along with Graciano and Garnacha for reds, and Garnacha Blanca, Turruntés (Albillo Mayor) and Maturana Blanca for whites. The vineyards range in age from 10 to 55 years old. Luis is a member of the Rioja ‘n’ Roll Olivier Rivière.

You can contact Luis online, call (+34) 649 331 799, or email him at nedito@bodegaslacus.com for additional information, or to arrange a visit to the winery.

Bodegas Viña Herminia

The winery was orginally founded in 1949 by Joaquin Casas, who was from a long winemaking lineage, and named the bodega after his wife, Herminia. This is a joint venture between the Luis Caballero Group (owner of Emilio Lustau) and the major Rioja cooperative Viñedos de Aldeanueva, the winery lies between the River Ebro and the Sierra de Yerga mountain range in the village of Aldeanueva de Ebro, a few minutes drive northwest of Alfaro, just southeast of Calahorra, surrounded by vineyards, which spread up the slopes of Mount Yerga to an altitude of 700 meters, allowing the vines to embrace the sun. The director,  José Luis, a 4th generation winemaker, joined Viña Herminia in 2007 and manages the cellar with its 3200 oak barrels. 

Contact them online, call (+34) 941 142 305, or email vherminia@vherminia.es to arrange a tour of the winery.

Bodegas Domeco de Jarauta

Built in the style of a French “châteaux” by José Vicente Domeco de Jarauta in 1995, the new winery added to a tradition of wine making that dates back more than 100 years when the family began in the wine business, it’s first award coming in Barcelona in 1888. The oldest vineyards surround the winery, which is located a few minutes drive northwest of Aldeanueva de Ebro. The rest of their 100 hectares of vineyards are in Alfaro, Autol and Rincón de Soto. The barrel room holds 700 casks of French and American oak, along with some Romanian and Russian barrel they are experimenting with. Barrels are racked four times/year, and after 24 to 36 months of aging, the wine rests in a bottle for at least 9 months before being released. 

Contact the winery online, email info@bodegasdomecodejarauta.com, or call (+34) 941 163 078 to request a tour and tasting of two wines for 10€ or three wines for 15€. Tours available in Spanish, French and English.

Bodegas D. Mateos

What began as a small vineyard on the slopes of Mount Yerga in 1886 evolved after seven generations of the cultivation of the vineyards with the research and development of new grape varieties like Tempranillo blanco. Their vineyards cover nearly 100 hectares with more than half of the vines goblet trained, the rest are trellis trained. The new winery was opened in 2000 and under the direction of Mateo Ruiz, offers great wines with their own distinctive personality and character. 

Call (+34) 941 261 897, email info@bodegasmateos.com or contact them online to request a visit to the bodega, open Monday to Friday.

Bodegas Real Rubio

The family had been working the land from more than 100 years when Mariluz Ruiz and Javier Rubio founded their own cellar at the foot of Monte Yerga. The family’s modern wine-estate, with over 90 hectares of vineyards, many over 60 years of age, is located along the LR-384, to the south of their neighbor Bodegas Álvarez Alfaro. 26 hectares of their vineyards are set aside as organic for growing Verdejo, Graciano, Chardonnay, Tempranillo and Muscatel varieties. 

The bodega is open for you to tour the vineyards and winery and learn about the process, followed by a tasting, or you can enjoy a more advanced tasting. 

Email , request a visit online, or call (+34) 941 163 672 to schedule a tour and tasting.

Bodegas Pastor Díaz

The Pastor Días family has been making wine and producing oil since 1890, opening the new winery in 1995 between the Ebro River and the foothills of Monte Yerga. The original winery from 1946 is now a museum and tasting area. Their 120 hectares of vineyards, both goblet and trellis, are located between 450 and 700 meters on the slopes of Monte Yerga.

Visits and tastings are available by contacting them online, by calling (+34) 941 142 390 / 630 957 256, or by emailing comercial@pastordiaz.com.

Bodegas Vinos en Voz Baja

Young winemaker Carlos Mazo and his partner, designer and photographer Isabel Ruiz’s project was to develop their nine plots totaling approximately 6 hectares of family vineyards, including four and a half hectares of old bush-vine Garnacha. The vineyards are in the flatlands of Mount Yerga, where the altitude exceeds 450 meters, and the slopes of the Sierra de los Agudos. The winery’s name means ‘Low-Voice Wines’.

Email carlos@vinosenvozbaja.com or call Carlos at (+34) 661 355 702 for additional information.

Bodegas Finca Montote

The main building of the Rubio Family winery, Finca Montote, which opened in 2018, sits in the center of the Garnacha vineyards in the heart of the Sierra de los Agudos, next to the Moncayo National Park, on the road to Pico de Los Agudos. It is one of the most spectacular recently built wineries in the region.

Contact the winery online or call (+34) 941 039 387 for additional information, or to arrange a tour and tasting. You can also email jjfernandez@fincamontote.com.