Remelluri is one of the most timeless and iconic landscapes of the wine world, as well as one of the most enchanting vineyards in Spain. Firmly anchored in its deep history, which dates back to the tenth century when Count Erramel, a Basque warrior and aristocrat from Álava, founded a small village on the site (uri in Basque); hence the name Erramel Uri evolved to Remelluri. The first wines were made here in the fourteenth century, when Hieronymite monks tended the monastery atop the nearby Sierra de Toloño mountains and founded a sanctuary and farm on the site. Today, Remelluri leverages its rich past to illuminate the path forward for not only the future of Rioja but also for world-class, terroir-based fine wines across Spain. 

Remelluri became the first single-estate/monopole Rioja of the modern era with its release of the 1971 vintage. Remelluri is currently owned and tended by the Spanish winemaking icon Telmo Rodríguez and his family, with Telmo’s creative partner Pablo Eguzkiza heading up the winemaking team. 

Remelluri’s vineyards are located contiguously along the slopes of the Sierra de Toloño mountains, part of the Sierra de Cantabria chain, in the valleys of Valderemelluri, La Granja, and Villaescusa, just above the village of Labastida in Rioja Alavesa. The Remelluri vineyards are at the highest elevation in the Rioja region, with south-facing vines planted between 590 and 805m, protected from the prevailing northern winds and frost. The Remelluri landscape is an integrated system of agriculture with great respect for the environment, which includes certified-organic farming with biodynamic treatments, as well as regenerative and agroforestry elements employed throughout the property to encourage biodiversity and harmony between the vineyard, mountainside, and human elements. 

The estate consists of over a hundred and fifty individual plots, all of which are vinified separately. One of the keys to the location’s significance is that the vines are planted in terraced amphitheaters following the contours of the mountainside, which shelters them from the harsh weather on the leeward side. Remelluri is pure mountain Rioja.

Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Gran Reserva is a top selection from only the best vintages, made in small quantities from the oldest and most important vineyards at the estate, representing the purest essence of the property. Granja is a high-altitude Rioja sourced from a selection of vineyards surrounding the winery and above into the Sierra de Toloño mountains, with a higher proportion of old garnacha vines planted from 680 to 780m.

Granja Remelluri delivers on the incredible, historic expectations while setting a new standard for ultra-elegant, terroir-driven Rioja from a single estate. It is built to improve in the cellar for many decades to come. 

Only indigenous varieties are used, planted from 1918, averaging over 70 years old. The blend consists primarily of goblet-trained tempranillo, garnacha, and graciano varieties with an average yield of 27hl/ha. Only grapes from the estate are used for Granja Remelluri, grown with certified organic farming (certified by ENEEK, the Basque Agricultural Regulatory Council), made with low intervention, and bottled unfiltered with minimal sulfur.

Vintage – 2015 was marked by generally good weather conditions throughout the year that resulted in excellent vintage quality. The 2015’s have evolved in bottle to surpass original expectations of the vintage, with top wines like Granja Remelluri being considered classics that will undoubtedly repay many years of cellar development. The large water reserve due to a cold, wet winter with abundant snow in February and March favored optimal vegetative development. The vegetative cycle was advanced due to a hot summer, tempered by plenty of rain in September, which led to early technical ripening, forcing a long and selective harvest in search of the optimum phenolic ripeness. 

2015 was atypical but gratifying at La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri. The warm and abundant conditions created an environment where painstaking selection and assembly of the best plots in the different microclimates was essential. Waiting for perfect maturity plot by plot, with careful and respectful wine-making, production, and aging produced the property’s ideal wine in 2015. 

Vinification – Bunches were hand-selected daily vine-by-vine between October 10 through October 22, placed in small boxes, and taken directly to the winery. Whole clusters were destemmed and crushed and the must was spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts in old, open-top foudres. It was then aged for 30 months in various French oak barrels: one- to five-year-old barrels (225L, 400L, and 500L) and foudres ranging from 1200 to 2000L. The 2015 vintage was bottled without fining or filtration on May 17, 2018, with further bottle aging in the Remelluri cellar until August 2024.

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