This extremely ambitious project was founded in 1987 by entrepreneurs and wine lovers Mario Rotllan and Carmen Daurella. The name of the winery combines the first letters of their surnames. They dared to establish themselves at the legendary Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, side by side with some of the most ancient and celebrated Rioja wineries. If you want to experience time-travel, just walk the few meters that separate Lopez de Heredia’s cobwebby and mouldy cellars to Roda’s state-of-the-art facilities, expanded in 2021 with a new vinification room.
Although modern in style, Roda's reds are quite respectful of tradition. Made from a wide range of plots spread throughout the region (the winery manages 160 hectares, half of them their own, mainly planted with Tempranillo but also Graciano and Garnacha), Roda wines are released as Reservas and fermentation takes place in oak fermenting vats.
Roda I (€44) shows black fruit character whereas Roda (€24) -or Roda II as it was called up to the 2001 vintage- showcases red fruit and freshness. Ultra modern Cirsion (€165) explores the combination of power and silky textures from harvest-selected bunches whose tannins undergo polymerisation in the grapes (and not just during the barrel ageing process). The discovery of this “Cirsion factor” was part of an R&D project that led to the recovery of 550 bio-types of Tempranillo from ancient vineyards and the creation of a seed bank. In the 2008 vintage Roda released the more affordable Sela (€15), which comes from its youngest vineyards. In 2019 Roda presented its first white wine (€60), made from Viura, Garnacha Blanca and Malvasía selected from the higher parts of the estate's vineyards, with a focus on volume and freshness. It has a short maceration with its skins and is aged for 18 months in wooden vats, new and used 500-litre barrels, before resting in the bottle for a further 18 months.
The bodega's R&D department is immersed in several projects to fight climate change. In addition to the selection of plant material to produce cooler wines, in 2019 Roda bought a 10-hectare plot in Cellorigo, a cold area in the Obarenes, the most north-western part of the appellation. Here, in 2021, it planted Tempranillo with a Keyline design that seeks to retain and distribute rainwater evenly throughout the property. The plot is the largest in Europe with this layout, originally devised in Australia, and is grown organically, like the rest of Roda's vineyards.
The winery celebrated its 25th anniversary with a roadshow of vertical tastings around the world -its purpose has always been to make reds suitable for cellaring. It is therefore no surprise that visitors are encouraged to ask for older vintages and enjoy them at Roda’s most charming location: a quiet balcony overlooking the Ebro river that can be found at the end of the 19th century underground cellar upon which the winery was built. Other tourist suggestions, beyond the obvious winery tour, include a pleasant wine bar with its own entrance and photographic exhibitions which are part of the so called “Maridajes” (Pairings) cycle.
