Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Europe
341
Marques de Riscal
The Drunken Winery
La Rioja, Spain
This winery seems to dance on the horizon
like a madman—just look at that metallic
roof, made with strands of pink, gold, and
silver titanium. It seems to jump around
like a tangled ball of ribbons, with no
sense of shape but sheer exuberance to
compensate. Inside and out, the building
is loud, outrageous, and flamboyant. With
its zigzag walls and angular windows, it is
illogical, ridiculous, and enthralling.
Welcome to the “City of Wine,” designed
by star architect Frank Gehry. The new
complex—opened with great fanfare in
2006 by King Juan Carlos of Spain himself—
is located 1 hour from Gehry's more famous
creation, the shiny and (by comparison)
sober Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. This
fanciful winery complex is all the more
astonishing for its contrasting surround-
ings: It is set against a background of a
beautiful dusty mountain range, the Sierra
de Cantabria, and in the middle of a tradi-
tional Spanish winery of sandstone brick
and red earth in the medieval village of
Elciego—which, ironically enough, trans-
lates as “the blind man.” In the older part of
the winery, you'll find a historical cellar with
narrow, winding flagstone tunnels draped
in cobwebs. What a contrast that makes to
the brand-spanking-new wine cellar of
150,000 bottles called “the Cathedral to
Wine.” Inside the complex, you'll also find a
43-room designer inn called the
Marqués
de Riscal Hotel
(
&
34/945/180-880;
www.starwoodhotels.com) linked by glass
walkway to a wine therapy spa—luxury
indeed.
At first it may seem perplexing to find
such radical stuff at one of Spain's most
historical wineries. Famous for its rich,
dense reds, which may be aged in a bottle
for more than 100 years, the winery will
often keep a wine for up to 40 years
before releasing it. Yet the juxtaposition
makes more sense when you learn that
the winery's founder, Marques de Riscal,
was not just a winemaker but a famous
19th-century diplomat, journalist, and
freethinker. This is a winery that appreci-
ates the old, but has never been afraid of
the new.
To commemorate the winery's new
extension, the auction house Sotheby's
recently held a gala dinner of ancient
wines. Among those served was a 1900
Tempranillo from Marques de Riscal that
was so old, it could not be uncorked—
each bottle had to be decapitated with
giant hot tongs.
The madness continues.
Marques de Riscal,
C/ Torrea 1, Elciego
(
&
34/945/606-000;
www.marquesderiscal.
com).
(
Logroño airport (33km/20 miles).
L
$$
Gran Hotel AC La Rioja,
C/
Madre de Dios 21, Logroño (
&
34/941/272-
350;
www.ac-hotels.com). $$
Antigua
Bodega De Don Cosme Palacio,
Ctra. El
Ciego s/n, Laguardia (
&
34/945/621-195;
www.habarcelo.es).
