Summary
Bodegas de Familia Burgo Viejo is a family winery in Alfaro, at the far eastern edge of Rioja where the Rioja Oriental sub-zone (formerly Rioja Baja) borders Navarra. In 1987 six winegrowing families came together because they no longer wanted to hand over their grapes but to make wine from them themselves. That idea has grown into an estate with around 200 hectares of its own vineyards, stretching from the Ebro valley up to the slopes of Monte Yerga. Since 2003 winemaker Gorka Etxebarria has been turning them into fruit-driven, uncomplicated Rioja wines – from young Tempranillo via the Burgo Viejo Crianza range to the Reservas of Palacio del Burgo and Licenciado – which regularly pick up medals at international competitions.
History
Alfaro has a long winegrowing tradition, yet for decades the town's growers delivered their grapes to cooperatives or large wineries. The roots of Burgo Viejo go back to the 1950s, when winegrowers from Alfaro organised themselves in a local cooperative. The real founding moment came in 1987: six winegrowing families – Castillo García, Galán Garijo, Gurría García, Marqués Malumbres, Rivas Marqués and Ruiz Casas – decided to vinify the grapes from their own vineyards themselves and to market them under their own name. The name refers to the “old quarter”, the historic heart of Alfaro.
The union of six families has become a mid-sized family business which, by its own account, is now supported by around sixteen winegrowing families. An important step came at the end of 2003 with the appointment of Gorka Etxebarria as head oenologist. Under his direction the winery on Calle Concordia was modernised, the range was organised into clearly separated brands and exports were expanded – today the wines go to the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, the USA, Japan and China, among other markets.
Location & Terroir
Alfaro lies on the extreme eastern edge of Rioja, where the Ebro forms the border with Navarra. The Rioja Oriental sub-zone is the warmest and driest of the three Rioja zones: a Mediterranean-influenced climate, plenty of sunshine and less rainfall than in Rioja Alta or Alavesa. That is precisely what makes it classic Garnacha country – and an area in which Tempranillo becomes especially ripe and soft.
Burgo Viejo's roughly 200 hectares are spread across the entire municipality of Alfaro. They range from the fertile alluvial terraces of the Ebro valley up to the slopes of Monte Yerga, the mountain range south of the town that belongs to the Sistema Ibérico. This difference in altitude creates a great diversity of soils and microclimates: deep, gravelly clay soils dominate in the valley, while on the slopes the soils become leaner, more calcareous and stonier, and the cooler nights at altitude slow down ripening. The vines are on average over 30 years old; some parcels of old Garnacha vines reach up to 90 years and more. Because almost all the vineyard holdings belong to the families themselves, the bodega controls grape quality from pruning to harvest.
Style & Philosophy
Burgo Viejo sees itself as a bridge between Rioja tradition and modern cellar technology. The families speak of a “new way of understanding Rioja”: pride in Alfaro's centuries-old winegrowing history meets the ambition to make clean, fruit-driven wines that are enjoyable even without long bottle ageing.
In the vineyard this means single-variety parcels, adapted yields and a growing focus on organic farming – younger plantings of Graciano and Tempranillo Blanco are, according to the winery, farmed organically. In the cellar Gorka Etxebarria relies on temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel, gentle extraction and barrique ageing that supports the fruit rather than masking it. Under DOCa rules the Crianzas spend at least one year in barrel, the Reservas correspondingly longer. The result is Rioja wines with ripe red and black fruit, soft tannin and moderate oak influence – typical of the warm east of the region, but with the freshness contributed by the higher sites on Monte Yerga.
Added to this is a high standard of process quality: the winery is certified to the BRC and IFS food safety standards. And Burgo Viejo is an open house – the bodega can be visited and is listed in La Rioja as a wheelchair-accessible winery.
Notable Vineyards & Wines
The range is organised into several clearly distinguishable brands:
- Burgo Viejo – the classic core range of the house: young Tempranillo, rosado and white from Viura, plus the Burgo Viejo Crianza, the bodega's best-known wine – Tempranillo with shares of Garnacha and Graciano, aged around one year in barrique
- Palacio del Burgo – the Reserva range with longer barrel and bottle ageing, plus further bottlings down to Crianza
- Licenciado – a stand-alone Reserva brand with a classic, mature Rioja profile
- Palacio de Primavera – a Crianza range focused on fruit and drinkability
- Finca Vidales – the families' own Crianza brand, named after one of their fincas
In total the bodega produces around 155,000 nine-litre cases a year. Most of it stays in Spain, with a growing share going to export.
Awards
Burgo Viejo is one of those Rioja producers that show up year after year at the major international competitions: the wines have repeatedly won medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards, the International Wine Challenge and Mundus Vini. In 2016 the bodega was named a Golden League Top Producer by Mundus Vini in the category of estates up to 250 hectares. Individual wines have also scored above 90 points with the Wine Advocate (Robert Parker) and the International Wine Cellar (Stephen Tanzer) – a strong signal for wines in this price bracket.
