Remelluri
Remelluri is one of the most timeless and iconic landscapes of the wine world, as well as one of the most enchanting vineyards in Spain. While firmly anchored in its historical past, Remelluri illuminates the path forward for not only the future of Rioja but also world-class, terroir-based fine wines produced across Spain. It is about rediscovering the essence of Rioja, and the story’s evolution is genuinely cinematic in scope. At Remelluri, the future lies in the past.
The estate’s origins date back to the tenth century when Count Erramel, a Basque warrior and aristocrat from Álava, founded a small village on the site (uri in Basque); hence the name Erramel Uri evolved to Remelluri. The first wines were made here in the fourteenth century, when Hieronymite monks tended the monastery atop the nearby Sierra de Toloño mountains and founded a sanctuary and farm on the site. The earliest written evidence of wine production dates from the Laguardia village tax records of 1596, noting Remelluri’s contribution. The monks later abandoned the area, but local hermits continued to maintain the shrine while the Real Divisa, a local community organization, maintained the farms to accommodate the needs of pilgrims who came to pray at the sanctuary. The estate was eventually split up and sold in the nineteenth century, as were many properties belonging to religious orders throughout Spain.
The modern winery was established in 1967 when Jaime Rodríguez Salís, father of siblings Telmo and Amaia Rodríguez, purchased the vineyards at the heart of the former estate and began to make wine from the ancient, abandoned site. Jaime and his wife Amaia were entrepreneurial, non-conformist intellectuals from Irún, where Jaime was a writer and archeologist and Amaia, a writer and artist. The family was always forward-thinking, with incredible respect for culture, creativity, and craftsmanship. Since then, Remelluri has been devoted to restoring the original, historic vineyards to their fullest potential. Remelluri became the first single-vineyard Rioja of the modern era with its release of the 1971 vintage, standing out from a conservative wine culture based on house style and blends of purchased wines from throughout Rioja. Remelluri was founded on individuality and the concepts of terroir and specificity, always distinct from the industrial machine of greater Rioja.
Remelluri’s vineyards are located along the slopes of the Sierra de Toloño mountains in the valleys of Valderemelluri, La Granja, and Villaescusa, just above the village of Labastida in Rioja Alavesa. The vineyards here are at the highest elevation in the Rioja region with vines planted between 500 and 950 meters, south-facing, and protected from the prevailing northern winds and frost. The estate consists of more than 80 individual plots, all of which are vinified separately. One of the keys to the location’s significance is that the vines are planted in terraced amphitheaters following the contours of the mountainside, which shelters them from the harsh weather on the leeward side. It is worth noting that the Atlantic influence of the Bay of Biscay lies only an hour and a half by car from Remelluri, as evidenced by Telmo’s frequent surfing trips with his filmmaker brother Sanxo to Spain’s top destination for big waves. This ideal location is why generations of inhabitants have sought shelter and farmed the site for centuries.
It is this unique microclimate that gives the wines of Remelluri their distinct personality and character. These are mountain wines that express themselves very differently from the typical Rioja wines of the plains below. The grapes at Remelluri, grown in the foothills of the Toloño mountains, are almost always the last to be harvested in Rioja; it is common for the vintage to last well into October or November. Poor, stony soils, with layers of calcareous clay, give considerable structure for aging. At the same time, the Atlantic influence provides abundant rainfall and much lower temperatures than in the rest of the region, lending incredible acidity and freshness. The fluctuation of cool nights and warm days offers the ideal conditions for proper, long phenolic ripening of the grapes, resulting in Remelluri’s hallmark complex and nuanced aromatics.
The high-altitude wines from these vineyards have more in common with the great nebbiolo-based mountain wines of Italy than the fruity garnachas of southeastern, Mediterranean-influenced Rioja. They are also naturally built to age gracefully for decades, similarly to their Italian counterparts.
Remelluri is pure mountain Rioja.
Philosophy
“Recovering regions, protecting traditions, head-pruning vines, helping those who are starting out. That’s what I’m talking about. Everything we’re doing is restoring; we’re not trying to invent anything new. In fact, our motto is: The Future Lies in the Past.” – Telmo Rodríguez
The Remelluri farm contains a rich trove of archaeological artifacts, including the remains of a necropolis dating from the 10th century and an ancient stone wine press lagar, carved from a granitic boulder in the middle of the vineyard. The property also contains a chapel dating from the 11th century featuring the last works of Basque surrealist painter Vicente Ameztoy. Dating back even further is Iron Age art found buried on the south end of the farm, discovered while planting the original vineyards in the 1960s. Remelluri has been an original idea of historic rebirth and refinement since its inception.
“One cannot really own Remelluri; the project is always alive and bigger than any one of us. We are only the current stewards of the land, guiding the project until the next generation takes it over. We do our best to uncover the truth of what the land gives us.”
– Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena
Organic farming principles have always been utilized here to ensure that the wine remains true to its unique terruño. As such, chemicals have never been used at the property, and the entire production has been certified organic since the 2014 vintage. Remelluri also uses an integrated system of agriculture with great respect for the environment. Hedges and plantations are maintained and nurtured, and trees are planted to complement the vineyards, such as almond, peach, fig, and olive trees, as well as a rich and productive native bee colony (the wax from which is used to seal the coveted Remelluri Blanco). The Remelluri property contains many old head-pruned vines, which provide inspiration for all of their vineyards. Vine training has been restored to these head-pruning techniques, and vine row spacing is suited to hand-harvesting. The history of vines in this region of Alavesa is written in these traditional methods.
Biography
Telmo Rodríguez (winemaker) and Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena (viticulturist), returned to the property and took over the project from their father in 2009. Their return to their family winery marked the beginning of a new era at Remelluri—both a renewal of purpose and a commitment to the process of uncovering and revealing the truth of Remelluri. Telmo’s winemaking partner in all of his projects, the prolific Pablo Eguzkiza (trained at Château Petrus), has helped implement numerous changes in the vineyards and winery that can now be seen in recent vintages of Remelluri.
Execution of Remelluri’s cultural and environmental plan is the domain of Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena, who holds a Cultural Anthropology PhD from the University of Oxford. Prior to her return to Remelluri in 2009, Amaia worked closely with their good friends in Burgundy, Domaine Leflaive, to further understand their approach to viticulture and how it could apply to the Remelluri project. She also previously worked for the Basque government in their Department of Culture, developing projects to support Basque artists.
Amaia is dedicated to the study and design of the continuous improvements to the property, which includes integrated polyculture and symbiosis with the natural environment. Some of her tools include the practice of organic and biodynamic viticultural elements. Her stewardship includes the nearby mountains, the fauna of the area, a botanical, fruit, and vegetable garden, as well as the ancient buildings, springs, roads, and the historic built environment. Amaia utilizes a whole-system approach in which there is no division between the individual elements of the vineyards and the surrounding ecosystem—they are one and the same.
As for her prolific winemaking brother, Telmo Rodríguez: after years of perfecting his craft and gaining international recognition for his advocacy of forgotten regions and native varieties throughout Spain (with his partner in Compañia de Vinos, Pablo Eguzkiza), the duo returned to their family winery with a vision for the future of the estate, laser-focused on place and reverence for the region. As the estate reclaims vineyard sites, the team selects varieties best suited to the specific microclimate of each plot utilizing traditional bush vine training. All parcels are hand-harvested and vinified separately with the least intervention possible and the utmost respect for each site. This is the process of uncovering and revealing the essence of Granja Remelluri as a place and wine.
Wines from Remelluri
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