Contino

 

The winery is named after a saint and guardian from the 16th century.

Contino, the first château in Rioja, was founded in 1973 by the century-old CVNE winery and the owners of the 62-hectare estate in Rioja Alavesa. The history of the property, which dates to the 16th century, is reflected in the winery’s name. The officer in charge of the one hundred soldiers who looked after the royal family continuously (or “de contino“), from the Catholic Monarchs era onwards, was known as the “contino”. Its rich history also tells how Saint Gregory (the patron saint of vineyards) once passed through this Riojan estate, which is why his figure appears on the winery’s logo, and some of the vineyard plots on the estate bear his name.

The fruity and elegant wines produced on this estate reflects the finest winemaking traditions in La Rioja. The wines are produced through an individualised harvesting process using grapes exclusively grown in the vineyards surrounding the old manor house that define their provenance. The perfect combination of soils, Atlantic-Mediterranean climate and refined technique have made Contino a point of reference in Spain and abroad more than thirty years after the first vintage.

 

The Contino vineyard

Our San Rafael estate vineyard, located in Laserna in a meander of the Ebro River, has its own microclimate and a great diversity of soils. The vineyards surround a 200-year-old manor house with some of the oldest wine cellars in La Rioja, dating back to the 16th century. The cellars are home to the echoes of deep-rooted winemaking tradition blended with the voices of cutting-edge technologies.

The grapes from each vineyard plot are harvested and processed separately to achieve the best quality and endow each wine with a unique character. 

The 62 hectares of vineyards in Laserna, Laguardia, are located on a meander of the river Ebro, protected by the hillside Cerro de la Mesa. Thanks to its location, the land has a unique orientation and microclimate.

The vineyards descend gently down towards the river Ebro and feature soil of adequate permeability and depth that allow the roots of the vine to grow deep in search of the water stored naturally in the subsoil. The vineyards extend over three terraces, located at an altitude of between 420 and 400 metres above sea level, and comprise of calcareous sandy soil in the deepest layers and calcareous clayey soil in the middle and upper layers, where there is an abundance of pebbles typical of alluvial terrain. These soils offer high permeability and a variable water retention capacity.

The vines are, on average, 22 years old. However, some vines found in the estate are over 60 years old. The predominant grape variety is Tempranillo, followed by varieties such as Graciano, Mazuelo, Garnacha and Viura.

Viñedos del Contino was a pioneer in Rioja in the production of single vineyard wines. The proximity of the vineyard to the winery allows meticulous and controlled winemaking process, allowing the freshly harvested grapes to be transferred quickly to the winery. The manual harvest as well as the vinification, is carried out separately, a plot by plot system. The fermentation takes place in small-capacity tanks, separating the grapes from different plots according to the variety and specific conditions of each vintage.