Bodegas Roda

On the river Ebro, near the small town of Haro, lies Bodegas Roda. The estate was founded in 1987 and sees itself as part of a new wave of winemakers who began this craft in the 1980s. 

Bodegas Roda - Something new from Rioja

Mario Rotllant and Carmen Daurella were part of this movement when they built Roda. The estate was built on a calado, a stone tunnel, . At the time of the phylloxera plague, the French "discovered" that Spain was largely spared the pest and had their wines produced there.

In the calados, the barrels were stored before being shipped to France to keep them nice and cool and dark. The team at Roda planned the building carefully, so that after construction began, 10 years would pass before the last stone was in place.

Respect for nature

At Roda, they are totally committed to Rioja, so it's no surprise that the typical grape varieties of the region are at the top of the list:

• Tempranillo
• Graciano
• Garnacha

The vines are comparatively old, which reduces the yield but improves the quality of the grapes.

The plants are kept bush-like instead of trellised, a traditional method of cultivation in Rioja. This in turn makes manual harvesting necessary, as machines cannot harvest the plants. Synthetic pesticides are not used so as not to cause lasting damage to nature. One understands the grape here as a living reflection of the land, which must be treated extremely carefully.

At the Roda winery no detail is omitted

Even at the planning stage, the details of Roda 's cellar were meticulously thought out. For example, the number of tanks was precisely matched to the number of plots and vintages that were to be processed. They are made of French oak, unlike the usual steel tanks, and have a temperature control and pumping system.

After the first fermentation, the wines undergo another malolactic fermentation, which, interestingly, takes place in barrique. This is the process that Roda has discovered, after years of experimentation, to be their best version. The barrels are stored in a "bioclimatic room", a concept of a completely temperature-regulated depot.

Ultimately, the wines end up in the barrique again for aging and are stored for aging in one of the two cellars that were carved out of the rock during construction for this purpose.

Research for the future

Today, Roda continues to be active in research and supports scientific projects to advance viticulture and agriculture in general. These projects include research into the production of low-sulfite, high-quality wines, and the breeding of grape varieties that are adapted to climate change.