A visit to Bodegas Murua in the heart of the Rioja Alavesa region
We visited Bodegas Murua in the heart of Rioja Alavesa, an important part of the history of wine in Spain. It is a winery that has been making wines since the Middle Ages, always seeking to differentiate its wines from the rest by the constant and continuous search for quality, always faithful to a style of winemaking such as La Rioja Alavesa, its terroir and the varietals it works with.
This philosophy of Bodegas Murúa is accentuated after becoming part of the Bodegas Masaveu group back in 1974, where the concern for quantity is put aside for the search for quality, working their own vineyards of low production that allows them to subsequently capture their ‘style’ or imprint in all the wines they produce. In fact, the winery was originally designed to produce the Masaveu family’s private wines, but it was in 1998 when the baton was taken over by José Masaveu Herrero, who organised, restructured and began to professionalise this and the rest of the group’s wineries.
Seeing the vineyards he works is truly impressive. A total of 51 own plots of different varieties that reach more than 80 hectares of vineyards throughout the Rioja Alavesa (Elciego, Laguardia, Villabuena de Álava, Leza, Lanciego and Navaridas).
One example is the estate surrounding the winery, divided into 8 vineyards planted with different varieties, where you can see not only the different grapes, but also the different orientations, sun exposure of the clusters, types of soil, etc., which later explain the peculiarities of each wine.
You can immediately perceive the philosophy that the wine begins in the vineyard, treating it with care, with as little external intervention as possible and always looking for reduced yields that allow the production of wines that later express themselves, their grapes and their terroir.
Bodegas Murua
A winery that produces a total annual production of 250,000 bottles of all its products, which clearly indicates that they are more concerned with quality than with the quantity of wines.
As we approached the winery, we soon noticed the charm of the main building, where the structure of the ancestral homes typical of this area of La Rioja Alavesa is preserved, solemn and noble.
With views of the Sierra de Cantabria, a fascinating range of colours opens up, calling us to enthusiastically explore the different terroirs in front of us.
In fact, we can see how Bodegas Murua offers different wine tourism activities that take participants to get to know the entire environment that protects this winery. Strolling through the vineyards allows you to understand that its wines will be special, unique, full of life and a reflection to the maximum of the typicality of the Rioja Alavesa.
Bodegas Murua’s wines
As we have already mentioned before, and starting from the fact that the vineyard is the best asset of any winery, Bodegas Murua has always wanted to reflect ‘its style’, the ‘Rioja style’, but adapting to the times, so that in the lines of wines it produces there is room for both classic and modern wines.
In their elaborations we find the most typical Rioja varietals such as Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha, among the reds, and Viura, Malvasía and Garnacha Blanca among the whites.
All the wines he makes are aged in oak barrels. Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva wines, both the wide range of red wines and the white wine made with fermentation in barrels.
Among the collections closest to the traditional Rioja style, we find wines such as Veguín de Murua Gran Reserva or Murua Reserva.
With a reinterpretation of tradition, but with their own personality and a more modern style, we find the wines M de Murua and Vs de Murua.
And of course, in the range of whites, we highlight the multi-varietal Murua Blanco Fermentado en Barrica (Barrel Fermented White).
Sobrelías Redacción
Sobrelías Redacción