Day 8 – The stunning Marques de Riscal

It’s our second day in Spanish wine country and we are onto our second wine tasting tour – the stunning Marques de Riscal. This would have to be one of the best vineyards we have ever visited in terms of the incredible property, it’s history & wine. The grandness of it all just takes your breath away!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves……

The original bodega is where our tour commences. Such a contrast to the striking Frank Gehry building now

The modern vinification plant

The expansion and upgrade of this modern facility was necessary to meet the growing demand for Marques de Riscal wines

Here are the boys in the barrel room leading the tour with our delightful guide

The impressive Marques de Riscal wine cellar. Holding just over 140,000 bottles, it houses one of the world’s largest private wine collection with a bottle from every vintage since 1862! Felt privileged to be able to see it in person

We learnt that the bottles of vintage wines are opened via the ‘decapitation’ technique – where red hot tongs are used to cut the bottle open to avoid pulling out a cork which may have otherwise disintegrated over the years. The wine is then poured from the neckless bottle with the cork still in one piece.

Walking through the maze of barrels

The production area where the wines are bottled.

Marques de Riscal produces 5 million bottles of wine each year, with 65% of which is exported.

It is here in the production area where we learn about the markets that Marques de Riscal supply to globally. The bottle labels reflect the different import rules and regulations that the vineyard needs to abide by for each country & therefore labelling is only done when the destination is known.

On site, one cellar stores approximately 3.6 million bottles while another cellar holds approximately 4 million bottles

First we taste the white wine

Then we sample the red wine

The tour finishes at the cellar door where you can purchase from a large range of Marques de Riscal wines

The famous gold wire netting was first introduced by Marques de Riscal in the late 19th century to protect the wine from being tampered with. Very smart move!

The stunning modern winery with its striking wavy titanium roof designed by world renowned architect Frank Gehry. A 1929 vintage was gifted to Frank Gehry. Cellared at the same temperature and humidity, it is said that 80% of this vintage is still drinkable

In summary, just WOW, WOW, WOW!

If you had to choose just one tour in the region, then it would have to be Marques de Riscal. It was such an amazing and memorable experience.

Website: https://www.marquesderiscal.com/en