Monte Real – The timeless essence of Bodegas Riojanas

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In 2025, DOCa Rioja marked a landmark anniversary: 100 years since the inception of Spain’s most renowned appellation. While celebrating its centenary, the region acknowledged a history and heritage with roots much deeper than the DOCa itself.

Rioja’s history and success – and indeed the creation of the DOCa – rest upon the hard work of wineries, winemakers and growers whose trajectory started much before, laying the ground for what is today one the world’s most loved wine regions.

Among the select group of wineries whose origins date back to the time before the creation of the DOCa in 1925 is Bodegas Riojanas, founded in 1890 by the Frías-Artacho family. Today, 135 years on, Bodegas Riojanas – now with four wineries, in Rioja, Toro, Rueda and Rías Baixas – is one of Spain’s leading producers, supporting communities of growers across regions. Its teams of professionals, in the vineyards and cellars, lead a pioneering project with invaluable cultural, economic and symbolic impact.

At home in Rioja, Bodegas Riojanas produces a diverse range of wines – that includes recognisable, much-loved brands such as Viña Albina or the flagship Monte Real – from over 200ha of vineyards in and around the villages of Cenicero and San Vicente de la Sonsierra.

Bodegas Riojanas was founded in 1890 by the Frías-Artacho family and now has four wineries, in Rioja (pictured), Toro, Rueda and Rías Baixas.

French inspiration, Spanish soul

Monte Real has become synonymous with terroir-expressive, classically modern Rioja and offers an affordable introduction to the finer expressions of the region. Its origins date back to the 1930s when, seeking to express the region’s identity in a straightforward, unpretentious way, Bodegas Riojanas decided to produce a new wine, exclusively with grapes from the El Monte estate in Cenicero, 20km northwest of Logroño, in the heart of La Rioja Alta. The French-born winemaker then at the helm of the winery, Gabriel Larrendant, named the new wine Monte Real, as it is still called today.

The estate is formed of a mosaic of small parcels of land – including plots of old vineyards, up to 120 years of age – with vines growing on pebbly clay and limestone soils at an altitude between 430 and 530 metres. Geology, elevation, microclimate and vineyard age nurture low-yielding vines that produce grapes of great aromatic complexity and measured acidity.

Bodegas Riojanas released Monte Real Cuvée in 2020

Bodegas Riojanas’ Vanguard project saw a limited-release Monte Real Cuvée in 2020.

Carefully handled in the cellar, these are translated into classic wines of approachable complexity and soft drinkability, designed to preserve the natural character of the grapes, merely outlined by the mindful use of wood. These are wines that surprise for their combination of drinkability and classicism – attributes that have made them notoriously popular since their initial release.

Monte Real’s popular core range has itself evolved with time, reflecting a growing curiosity for its terroir of origin and curiosity to explore the limits of the grapes’ potential. In 2020, Bodegas Riojanas launched the Vanguard project, a series of limited-release wines that bring specific aspect of viticultural and winemaking heritage and research to the fore: Monte Real Cuvée, followed in 2021 by single-varietal Garnacha and Tempranillo Blanco and, in 2022, Monte Real Cepas Viejas (‘Old Vines’) and Rosé.

Tradition preserved through innovation

Bodegas Riojanas’ micro-winery, ‘La Galeria’.

Bodegas Riojana’s longstanding brands and decades-enduring tradition have hardly remained static. The longevity and lasting appeal of wines such as those produced at El Monte rely on continuous research and innovation, not least to preserve the essence of the landscape. Sustainability, environmental as well as social, is at the heart of Bodegas Riojanas’ evolution. As seen in the company’s status as a member of Sustainable Wineries for Climate Protection and initiatives such as the school for winegrowers, providing resources and training for its many small partners, and ‘La Galeria’, an experimental winery for precision, terroir-led vinifications of selected plots.

Perhaps the clearest example of this productive dialogue between past and future is Monte Real’s Colección Larrendant, a tribute to the winemaker that started the tradition of attainable excellence. The three wines – two Reservas, red and white, and one Gran Reserva white – capture an historical quest for distinctiveness and authenticity while incorporating continuous innovation and improvement.

Leveraging generations of knowledge and tradition, Bodegas Riojanas look firmly at the future, bravely championing the people and vines of Rioja.