Earlier this month, the Wanderlust Wine Team took a trip to La Rioja, Spain, to visit two partner producers, Vinícola Real and Panorámico. If Spain’s most famous wine region needs no introduction, these two bodegas certainly deserve our attention.
Started in 1992, Vinícola Real is the project of local icon, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, and Panorámico is Daniel’s, his son. Natually, talking about one leads to the other. And while their wines are significantly distinctive in style, Vinícola Real and Panorámico share a special purpose: to produce expressive wines with utmost respect for the traditions of the past.
VINÍCOLA REAL
A tribute to a rich and forgotten heritage
Best known for their premium Rioja wines, 200 Monges (200 Monks), Vinícola Real produces some of the most sought-after and remarkably expressive Rioja wines, using traditional methods of viticulture. When winemaker, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, started Vinícola Real in 1992, he had a unique vision: to make a wine that pays tribute to the traditional viticulture model dating back to the 10th century, when 200 priests dedicated their lives to safeguarding traditional agriculture in the Monastery of San Martín de Albelda, right where the vineyards still stand today. One of the most important cultural centres in mediaeval Spain, the Monastery was destroyed with the landslide of the Salagona Crag in the year 1683. Today, Vinícola Real actively participates in the efforts to discover more about this historical monastery and about the work of the monks who lived in it.
Vinicola Real’s wines are the finest examples of La Rioja; fruit-forward Tempranillo wines vinified and aged in oak barrels, following traditional winemaking methods of the region. What is really wonderful about Miguel Angel Rodriguez’s wines is the ever-present and refreshing acidity, which you can still taste incredibly well in his vintage Gran Reservas. Even more suprising is the fact that Vinicola Real is known to harvest later than neighboring bodegas. “For me, it’s all about the phenolic maturity of the grape, not just sugar and acidity, but when all the grape components are where they should be,” Miguel Angel explains.
Not only does Vinícola Real produce outstanding wine while preserving their rich local patrimony, the winery also provides an amazing experience for all guests. We highly recommend touring the cellar, built under the mountain with naturally different temperatures and humidity levels, and staying at the wonderful hotel, voted Global Best Of Wine Tourism in 2022! More here.
“We don’t want to produce a lot. We want to produce wines of the highest quality and to preserve this heritage of old local vineyards.” – Daniel Rodriguez
PANORÁMICO
Seeking and protecting hidden treasures
With Panorámico, second-generation winemaker Daniel Rodriguez produces wines of the same standards, with a modern and slightly more experimental style. But his mission doesn’t stop at producing a new style of Rioja wines. With Panorámico, Daniel aims to save and preserve old forgotten vineyards, nested in La Rioja’s network of valleys and carefully kept by old understated growers with passion and knowledge.
In an attempt to energise the local wine industry, the Spanish government is incentivising people to uproot old vineyards and replant them with new vines to increase yields. To Daniel and his father, this is a real cause for concern and a reason to save these small plots of old vines from extinction. Over the last few years, they have rented or purchased as many old vineyards as possible to continue to produce premium wines from low-yielding vineyards of extraordinary heritage.
Needless to say that winemaking is low intervention, allowing the fruit and landscape to speak for themselves. All Panorámico wines all fermented spontaneously (with skin maceration in both reds and whites) and with minimal addition of sulphur.
In his ‘workshop’ cellar as in the vineyards, the goal is to extract each plot’s essence and soul for a unique Panorama of the true Rioja. Visiting their vineyards, it’s particularly striking to see the diversity of terroir within sites located only a handful of miles apart, from one side of the valley to another. The viticulture practised by Vinícola Real and Panorámico is much closer to gentle guidance than intensive farming. Whether the vines were planted in gobelet or pruned in Guyot, often struggling in the driest and poorest soil without irrigation, they appeared to freely grow and interact with their environment to produce the sought-out concentrated and balanced fruit for the wines.
While both bodegas have their singularity, one key aspect brings them very close together: a respect for traditions of the past. A great deal of theses wines are produced from old vines, often over 100 years old, with a low-intervention philosophy that is felt in every aspect of their production. As organic producers, they do not use artificial herbicides and pesticides but opt for more natural methods of cultivation without irrigation. All grapes are hand-selected at harvest from the best parcels for each wine and all wines are fermented with native yeasts. From a visit to the vineyards and to the cellar, and through tasting both Vinícola Real and Panorámico’s range, one can effortlessly taste both the unique terroir and the motivations behind these extraordinary projects.
We are proud and thrilled to represent these two exceptional bodegas. You can find their wines in our online store and learn more about both here: Vinícola Real and Panorámico.