Telmo Rodriguez Proprietor and Winemaker

Enologist and founder of the Telmo Rodríguez wine company in 1994. Telmo Rodriguez is one of Spain's pioneer winemakers, advocating native grape varietals tied to the climates and conditions of their sites, and making world-class wines from undiscovered as well as known regions. Perhaps most impressive, while Telmo Rodriguez makes rare and limited wines of astonishing character and quality, his everyday wines have been equally praised, and widely recognized for the tremendous value they offer.

Telmo studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Bordeaux and was the winemaker at his family winery in Rioja, Remelluri, and then set off on his own in the early 1990s to discover new vineyards and regions all around Spain. He now makes a range of wines in diverse viticultural areas of Spain, with an emphasis on the following:

• Telmo's vineyards are biodynamically farmed
• All vines are exclusively bush-trained, the traditional Spanish method
• Sites with exceptional terroir.
• Varietals traditional to their regions
• Replanting only with massal selections

REMELLURI Vineyard

The origin of the Farm Remelluri is lost in the mists of time.  

A necropolis in the center of the property indicates the  

of Alava "Erramel", founder of "Erramelluri" high medieval  

historical names.

In this place, surrounded by our oldest vineyards, carved into the rock is an ancient wine press, and probably one of the  

oldest wine remains of La Rioja. In the fourteenth century, Hieronymite monks settle in these lands, creating a monastic farm, which is dependent on  Toloño sanctuary, situated on the summit of this mountain.

Farm crops, protected from wind and frost, enjoy an  

exceptional microclimate. In your environment, remnants  

of prehistoric populations, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and  

finally medieval speak of an agricultural activity since ancient times.

The monks left in the fifteenth century, the shrine is maintained by hermits who worship well into the nineteenth century. The farm and monastery are depending on the Real Divisa, communal entity to which belonged all the surrounding towns of Toloño. The Real Divisa was in charge of the agricultural land management on the farm, serving to the large mass of pilgrims that used to come from all over the world to pray at the shrine.

The oldest account book kept in the City of Labastida, dated 1596. It was annually reviewed and until the last century, contribution used to be done in wine"cantaras"(local volume measure, equals to 16,13 litres) of Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri.

In 1837, the first civil war, the sanctuary is burned by the liberal troops after defeating the Carlist siege of Peñacerrada. In 1845, due to the law of confiscation, land, houses, and even the church of Santa Sabina were sold to the highest bidder.

A landowner acquires Labastida core, keeping the vineyard. This property, of approximately 20 hectares, arrives intact until 1967, and is then bought by Jaime Rodriguez Salis and Amaya Hernandorena. Since then the Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri regains their former lands, and currently has 154 hectares, 105 of which constitute a restored vineyard source of the wines of Remelluri.