If you come to La Rioja for a few days, a visit to the underground caverns that populate the bowels of our territory will be an experience you will not forget. Passages and caves perforate the subsoil. Almost magical places that enclose centuries of history within their walls and that dozens of generations of Riojan people have used to make and store wine. Fortunately, many of these ‘calados’ or ‘calaos’, as we say around here, have survived intact to the present day so that you can get to know them.
There are documents that prove their existence since at least the 16th century, anonymous architects who built the caves by hand to keep the wine fresh. And why so? The answer is simple: the caves have very stable temperatures and humidity levels throughout the year, and there is no sunlight here, which benefits the ageing of the wine. A centuries-old heritage excavated in the rock that can still be visited in many wineries, restaurants and even accommodation on the Rioja Alta Wine Route.
Throughout La Rioja there are more than 2,500 catalogued underground cellars in 128 districts spread over 89 municipalities. These ‘Barrios de Bodegas’ are urban elements usually separated from the municipality -although sometimes there are also some in the town centre itself- and located on a slope that facilitates the excavation of the cellars. They come in all types and sizes, some with several kilometres of passages and others barely 30 square metres. Some go several metres underground, while others go into the hillside.
To cite a few examples, in the heart of Logroño is «El Calado», a historical heritage site and winner of the Best Of Architecture Award 2014. It is the oldest winery in Logroño (16th century) that can be visited and is located in the Old Town of the capital of La Rioja. In the old town of Cenicero, Bodegas Tritium is a traditional winery from the 15th century that has a stone masonry lake, a winepress and a wine press, as well as a 10-metre deep cellar, and Bodega Calado 1880 is an old winery where you can find two cellars about 8 metres deep and you can see how the wines were made in the old days. In the Carlos Moro winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra you can see its 150-metre underground cellar, with a capacity for 2,000 barrels, and in Gimileo, the small rustic winery typical of La Rioja, Bodegas Cor de Mei, proudly displays its two cellars dating from the 16th century.
But it is not only the wineries that have wine cellars, you can also see them in accommodation such as Posada Ignatius, in Navarrete, a hotel complex in a 15th-century building that was the residence of the Duke of Nájera and has wine cellars and wine cellars from this period. Or the boutique hotel Santa María de Briones, located in this medieval village, a 16th century manor house listed for its high historical value, which has recovered the original draft of the house and the old stone wine press where the grapes were trodden and which is now offered as a reserved area of its Allegar Restaurant for business meetings and private events.
San Asensio is home to one of the most emblematic winery districts, known as the Barrio de las Cuevas de San Asensio, with more than 300 wineries located on a hill in the highest part of the town. These cave cellars were dug out by hand in the 16th century to allow the wines to be made and kept at a constant temperature. The cellars are excavated underground with entrances and small masonry constructions visible. There are also tuferas, which are visible as a sign of the cellars dug into the rock and which criss-cross each other, giving rise to passages between the cellars.
One of the wineries that can be visited in San Asensio is Bodegas Lecea, a family winery that has maintained the legacy of its ancestors and shares it with visitors who wish to get to know it, in an attractive wine tourism offer of high anthropological value. Lecea has four working cellars-cave where they continue to make their wines in concrete vats. A view that will take you back to the origins of Rioja wine.
Another of the best-known wine cellar districts is Rodezno, with its hundred or so traditional cellars, most of them dating from the 15th century, which show the history, tradition and culture of wine in this area. Its district of wineries is located on the slopes of Cerro La Encina and is one of the main tourist attractions in the municipality.
Also in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, the hill of the fortress is colonised by a hundred or so wineries of varying depth and surface area with their unmistakable «tuferas» (chimneys) dotting the hillside. There are two municipally-owned cellars that have been restored and made suitable for visits; the tourist office will provide you with information. In addition, twice a year, around the months of May and October, this town holds an event called Tastings in the Castle, which allows visitors to get to know the traditional cellars that have been restored and talk to the winemakers about the production of the wines that are tasted.
For all these reasons, if you like history, architecture, are interested in learning about traditional Rioja winemaking or want to learn about the way of life of our ancestors, a visit to the underground cellars is a must on your trip along the Rioja Alta Wine Route. A legacy of popular architecture that deserves to be known, preserved and maintained. Take a look at our website and start planning today.