Owned since 1999 by Bergé, a company with interests in several business areas, Castillo de Cuzcurrita may not be a very famous producer in Rioja but it boasts real charm, so much so that it has its own castle. It is not a replica of a Bordelais wine château, but a real fortress with its own Keep built between the 14th and 15th centuries. The building was later restored and turned into a home in the 1940s. The Burgundy clos-like vineyard planted within its walls in 1982 is even more striking. It totals seven hectares grown organically since 2016.
The village of Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón sits on the western end of Rioja, a cool, extreme area known for its fine reds with good levels of acidity even if full ripeness can be hard to achieve on certain years and the harvest may extend until the first days of November. Vintages don’t follow the general trend either. According to Ana Martín Onzaín, winemaker since the very first 2000 vintage, 2013 was one of the best years in Cuzcurrita.
They own 16 hectares of vines and rent up to 10 more to produce around 190,000 bottles. All the vineyards are in Cuzcurrita, some of them on the slopes around the village like El Monte, a centenarian plot where vines are planted among the rocks and from which the new top-of-the-range red called Tilo (90 €) was first released in the 2013 vintage.
In 2005 a new spacious winery was built next to the castle and fitted with small-sized tapered stainless steel vats to ferment different plots separately, cement tanks destined for blending and barrels arranged on a single level.
All wines are 100% Tempranillo and back-labelled as generic. Señorío de Cuzcurrita is the flagship red (around 180,000 bottles, €18 in Spain), whereas Cerrado del Castillo (6,000 bottles, €35) comes from a single plot within the walls of the castle and it is only made on the best vintages. 40% of the wines are sold to foreign markets. Winery tours are available from Monday to Saturday in Spanish, English and French. Art lovers will enjoy the contemporary art collection exhibited on their premises.
