Spain > Castilla y Leon > Rioja Alavesa > Bodegas Bideona
sustainable, organic practices
““It’s time to move beyond the philosophy of styles that has so defined Rioja, with its traditional division into Crianza and Reserva wines, which results in wines made in the cellar by the winemaker. In the end, carbonic maceration and oak aging homogenize everything and mask those nuances of origin that make one vineyard so different from another,””
la rioja Alavesa
La Rioja (from Rio Oja) is an autonomous community and province in north central Spain, along the Ebro river which flows east into the Mediterranean a bit south of Barcelona. Its capital is Logroño. It covers part of the Ebro valley towards its north and the Iberian Range in the south.
The Rioja Alevesa (the part of Rioja near Aleva) is located on the northeast bank of the Ebro River, pinned between the river and the Sierra Cantabria to the north. Its thin, limestone-derived soils produce elegant, poised wines.
Badiola- Fermentation Tanks
“I am convinced that in a very short time [Bodegas Bideona] will count among the top of the top wines of the Rioja Alavesa, and, consequently, of Spain.”
Bodegas bideona
Bodegas Bideona Laguardia, formerly Bodegas Badiola, founded in 2018, is a winery based in the village of Alava, the heart of Rioja Alavesa.
The winery was founded by Basque entrepreneur and txakoli producer Gorka Izagirre, and Península Viticulores, a venture established by MW’s Andreas Kubach and Sam Harrop, which handles winemaking and much of the business end. Izagirre originally bought a 250-acre estate in Alava which forms the core of their holdings, augmented by some 300 small vineyards whose vines are extremely old; many were planted in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s by the current owners’ grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Each plot, selected by Platon and Kubach, retains its original ownership, while that owning family becomes in turn a part-owner of the Bideona wines.
Tao Platon & Andreas Kubach
Badiola offers a new perspective on Rioja wines: emphasizing terroir-driven fruit, rather than the effects of oak aging. The vineyards are situated on the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria, predominantly surrounding the villages of Villabuena, Leza, Samaniego, Laguardia, Navaridas and Baños del Ebro, with each terroir producing wines with distinctive character. The winemaking philosophy is to obtain very pure, fresh and well-textured wines that reflect their origin. Winemaker Tao Planton knows his trade like no other. The result: a range of delicious modern Rioja wines showing absolutely pure tempranillo fruit.
“Burgundy, considered the epitome of territorial singularity and the differences between terroirs , even those very close, is much easier to understand than this northern area of Rioja Alavesa”
Bideona- Alavesa vineyards on white limestone soils
The wine
Chatxo: (derived from a Basque form of Muchacho or youngster) is the first wine of the Piratas del Ebro line, Inspired by the Phoenicians who sailed up the Ebro River and planted the first vines in what is now La Rioja. 100% Tempranillo, from dry-farmed, bush-trained vines around 50 years old planted in lime-rich soil at about 1875ft elevation. Vinified in 75% stainless, 25% a mix of French and American oak. and designed to showcase the fruit expressed by this unique terroir. 1,000 cases made annually.
“After finishing his studies [in Enology], Tao travelled the globe to work harvests in some of the world’s most famous wine regions, including Bordeaux, New Zealand, the Spanish Douro and Burgundy, where he learnt all about different winemaking techniques and approaches. A true student of his craft, he never stopped learning and to this day, when he’s not in the vineyard, you can normally find Tao swotting up for his next big wine test.
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“We chose Badiola, which was one of Gorka Izagirre’s 16 Basque surnames, and which appears on the label of the first vintages, but it turned out it was registered in Italy. So we considered it at length and settled on Bideona, which is the right path (in Basque) that we wish to follow.”