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Valpiedra Winery Guide

Cellar Tours Insight — Since 2003, Cellar Tours has planned private wine journeys through the world’s leading wine regions, pairing tailor-made itineraries with VIP winery visits, fine dining, and expert regional guidance.

Winery Overview

Finca Valpiedra is one of Rioja’s most distinctive single-estate projects, located in Rioja Alta between Cenicero and Fuenmayor beside the Ebro River. Owned by the Martínez Bujanda family, the estate focuses on wines grown, vinified, and bottled from its own vineyard holdings, giving Valpiedra a more terroir-led identity than many traditional Rioja blends. It is also a member of Grandes Pagos de España, a group dedicated to single-estate Spanish wines.

In 1889, Joaquín Martínez Bujanda, the current owners’ great-grandfather, established a small bodega in the village of Oyón near the Riojan capital, Logroño. Since these humble beginnings, the family has taken on several other projects and produced wines in many of Spain’s major regions.

Finca Valpiedra was established in 1999, although the first vineyards were planted as early as 1974. Right from the outset, the family wanted to pioneer a great single estate in Rioja, in contrast to their earlier beginnings when the fruit was blended from across the various Rioja sub-districts. The current team – Carlos Martínez Bujanda and Pilar Martínez Bujanda – recognized that their chosen location offered an exceptional terroir (a sometimes-neglected concept in Rioja) for growing Tempranillo. Furthermore, the vineyards are located in one of the most spectacular parts of the region, flanking the Ebro river between the villages of Cenicero and Fuenmayor, protected from the cold northerly winds by the Sierra de Cantabria.

The Martínez Bujanda family team has ensured that strict quality controls and attention to detail are the hallmarks of Valpiedra: from their in-depth understanding of the specific characteristics of their different vineyard plots to the fruit being hand-harvested and meticulously handled in the winery. The Reserva is released only in vintages that meet the estate’s selection criteria.

The distinguished estate-bottled Reservas are structured, age-worthy wines that will age beautifully. Even their second wine – Cantos de Valpiedra – offers evidence enough of the high standards practiced at Finca Valpiedra. The wines are known for intensity and elegance; incense, vanilla, cedar, mild tobacco, and other spices are all present and correct. And while the Martínez Bujanda family continues to expand into other Spanish regions and vineyards, Valpiedra will always remain the crown jewel of this proud family’s heritage – a truly unique and remarkable Rioja icon.

Finca Valpiedra is a highly rated visit for Cellar Tours clients interested in single-estate Rioja, riverside vineyards, and a more modern, terroir-focused expression of Rioja Alta. The estate’s location between Cenicero and Fuenmayor, beside the Ebro River, offers a striking contrast to the historic bodegas of Haro’s Barrio de la Estación. Cellar Tours includes Finca Valpiedra as part of a private Rioja itinerary alongside leading estates in Haro, Laguardia, Cenicero, Fuenmayor, and the wider Rioja Alta, subject to availability.

 

Private La Rioja Wine Tour

La Rioja vineyards and wine country

Plan a private La Rioja wine tour with expert-led visits around Haro, Rioja Alta and landmark bodegas, with Tempranillo tastings, cellar visits and regional dining.

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Further Reading

Author

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James Lawrence

With a passion for food & drink that verges on the obsessive, wine writer James Lawrence has traveled the world in search of the perfect tipple. To date, nothing has surpassed the 1952 R. López de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva, tasted in the cobweb-filled cellars with owner María José. Meanwhile, James has been writing for a wide variety of publications for over 12 years, including Telegraph, Decanter, Harpers, The Drinks Business, and Wine Business International. He lives in South Wales and returns to his former university city, Bilbao, as much as possible.

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