"The devil is in the detail, and the pursuit of excellence means paying attention to all the details." This phrase is an important companion in the creation of the wines of Bodegas Roda in Rioja. This attentiveness goes hand in hand with the primal trust that nature will contribute its own, frankly and unadorned.If you look at the many different tasks involved in making wine - the individual steps it takes, from the vine that produces grapes to the wine that is bottled - you can compare this multi-faceted process to the organic workings of an orchestra: "We work as a team," says Víctor Charcán, sales director of Bodegas Roda, to illustrate the interlocking of these different steps in the creation of wine. "If you like, the outstanding figure - our orchestra conductor, so to speak - is Agustín Santolaya, Roda's viticultural and general director. Isidro Palacios is in charge of viticulture and Carlos Díez de la Concepción is the oenologist." Together with all the others, the three gentlemen live the vision of producing great wines that are accessible when young and at the same time have ageing potential. "This has been the guiding principle since our foundation."
It was the vision of Mario Rotllant and Carmen Daurella that laid the foundation for the boutique winery in 1987. The two distributed high-quality wines from the renowned wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Piedmont. But now they wanted to emulate the great houses and believed in the potential of the Rioja terroir in achieving this goal. At the heart of the area lies El Barrio de la Estación de Haro, a unique place that captures the essence of Rioja and allows you to travel back in time through centuries of grape growing and winemaking. To do justice to this historical heritage, production is limited, as the winery's focus is clearly on quality. With the first vintage in 1992, Bodegas Roda thus already provided a turning point in the wine community of the DOCa Rioja, because they moved the vineyard back into the foreground, working with minimal intervention in the winery. "We went for spontaneous fermentation in French oak barrels, malolactic fermentation in barrels and ageing for a maximum of 18 months in French oak barrels, which was a revolution in the 1990s but is more common today." But it was never just about producing high-quality wines. "Our wines should also tell of their place of origin, the climate and the vintage," says Charcán.
This is why the 80-hectare organic winery is also very selective in choosing its vineyards. "We have only bush vines, do not irrigate additionally and maintain the natural plant cover. The foothills of the Obarenes Mountains, the meanders of Tondón and the foothills of Monte Toloño are among our best vineyards." Here, mainly the red grape variety Tempranillo ripens (more than 80 per cent), followed by Graciano and Garnacha. Only five percent of the vineyard area is planted with white wine grape varieties such as Viura, Garnacha Blanca and Malvasía. "The predominant soils in the northwest of the DOCa Rioja and the ones we prefer are sandstone, barren rootstock and hillside." Only the red grape variety duo of Graciano and Garnacha ripens on clay soils. These different elements combine under the watchful eye of a whole orchestra of people who accompany them to create wines "that open a window onto the Rioja landscape that we love so much and strive for".