Five generations and more than a century: The Chávarri family lives a heritage in their certified organic winery Bodegas Larchago that not only commits to tradition. But also to wines of the highest quality, to which the family lends its name with great pride.When he takes his daily walk through the family vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, they watch him. Silent and powerful, they stand there as Paco Chávarri carefully surveys the endless rows of vines. Just as they have always done. The two holm oaks that tower prominently in the middle of the Chávarri family vineyards. And they have been doing so for generations. For more than a century, the family has been writing a great and magnificent story here in the famous Spanish wine region: it was Paco's great-grandfather who laid the foundation for this family heritage in 1882, when he was awarded the oldest bottling registration in the region today. A heritage that was - and still is - lived out with fervour and humility over four generations. After all, it is those two holm oaks that Paco prescribed for his two daughters, Ruth and Maria, when they were still small and accompanied their father on his forays into the vineyards. As they grew up, they learned - just as their father once learned from his parents and they from theirs - the irrepressible love of nature, the region and winemaking. So it is hardly surprising that the two women have long been steering the fortunes of the large family dynasty together with their father.
"It is enormously important to us to tend the vines with love and care in order to obtain great grapes, which are then processed by a great team in the wine cellar," Ruth Chávarri says about a supposedly simple process. Yes, the origin-protected cultivation region Rioja is a guarantor for good wines. And the sub-region Rioja Alavesa, where the roots of the family winery lie, knows how to score with its cooler climate and its high-altitude vineyards, which give the land its special reddish colour.
Nevertheless, it is the family's special claim for the preservation of traditions and the conscious allowance of modern elements that make it possible for the wines of Bodegas Larchago to advance to become multiple award-winning and highly esteemed drops. Wines that combine elegance and maturity with a clear fruit aroma. Wines that bear a regional footprint - and thus conquer the world.
Over the generations, the family members themselves have already conquered a small world, because in addition to the winery heart in Rioja Alavesa, vineyards in the Duero region and in the D.O. Ribera del Duero also belong to the estate. Ribera del Duero also belong to the Bodegas Larchago winery. These two regions complement the charming play with aromas through their respective terroirs - and thus the vinophilic richness of facets that the Chávarris capture in about one million bottles annually. How do they manage to achieve such high standards and near-manufacture on such a scale?
"Through constant work," explains the likeable winemaker Ruth Chávarri. This is still the family's motto today, which means never resting on one's laurels. To always seek the encounter with the vineyards and to perceive what each vintage needs. When the path leads past the two old holm oaks on these forays, it does so with the soulful awareness that this high standard of winemaking has also been internalised by the next generation. Because the next generation is already waiting in the wings.
We cordially invite you to visit this great winery with its 2019 Fabulas Crianza get to know in December at our wein.plus:club online tastings. However, the places (either for retailers or for private wine lovers) available are limited.
You can purchase the featured wine from the following resellers.