Established by patriarch Guillermo Eguren in 1957, the original winery of the Eguren family is the starting point for one of the most solid wine groups in Spain from a quality point of view. Located in the picturesque village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, it bears the name of the mountain range that acts as protective barrier against the cold north winds.
Sustainability is at the heart of the family philosophy. It’s all about caring for the soil and transmitting the spirit of the terroir through the Tempranillo grape; even the stone used to build the Sierra Cantabria winery came from the estate. A few years ago the family decided to embark on a journey towards biodynamics – not embracing the more esoteric aspects, but building on what they had already done. Mineral fertilisers and chemical herbicides had been banished 30 years ago; now they began adapting what they were doing to lunar cycles and the rhythms of nature. This sort of change, they say, was simple – but expensive!
Three generations of family: Marcos, Guillermo, Eduardo and Miguel Eguren. The wines of Sierra Cantabria are the result of the hard work and inspiration of five generations of growers – five generations in touch with the soil, with the sky, with the seasons. Marcos and Miguel Eguren represent the current generation, and of their five wineries, four are in Rioja, and one is in Toro.
Sustainability is at the heart of the family philosophy. It’s all about caring for the soil and transmitting the spirit of the terroir through the Tempranillo grape; even the stone used to build the Sierra Cantabria winery came from the estate. A few years ago the family decided to embark on a journey towards biodynamics – not embracing the more esoteric aspects, but building on what they had already done. Mineral fertilisers and chemical herbicides had been banished 30 years ago; now they began adapting what they were doing to lunar cycles and the rhythms of nature. This sort of change, they say, was simple – but expensive!
The Sierra Cantabria Rioja vineyards are in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, protected from cold north winds by the Sierra Cantabria mountains. The grapes for Sierra Cantabria Reserva come from Tempranillo vines of over 30 years of age, with the very low average yield of 31 hectolitres per hectare. The vineyard sites here vary greatly: some are rugged, some flatter, some planted with very old vines some with younger vines. But all benefit from the confluence of the Atlantic and Mediterranean climates. Each vineyard therefore has its own character, and it is these different expressions that the wines are intended to transmit. For example, the yeast is a native one, selected on the estate; this applies to all the family’s wines. The choice of oak is careful: for Sierra.
The winery takes grapes from vineyards in San Vicente and in the nearby villages of Labastida and Laguardia, both in Rioja Alavesa. The top wines that used to be made under the Sierra Cantabria label are now produced at an independent winery called Viñedos Sierra Cantabria. The classic family wines remain in its portfolio (Murmurón carbonic maceration, Sierra Cantabria Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva) together with a rosé, a single varietal Garnacha and a red wine, called Selección, which is aged in barrels for six months. Almost all of these labels offer an excellent QPR.
The quality of the great wines is not a result of sheer luck. It requires personal effort, knowledge and passion as well of the earth and the complicity of the weather. Nothing is predominant, everything is important in order to create internationally famous wines. This is the result of hard work of a family with a philosophy that have been passed from generation to generation: to give back to the earth everything that it has given through the meticulous elaboration of their wines.
