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News
from: Tourist Office of Spain (New York)
www.okspain.org
Source: Pilar Vico, Meredith Pillon
ABOVE: The Frank Gehry-designed Marqués
de Riscal winery opened in October, 2006.
Marqués de Riscal City of Wine opens in Spain
Dramatic new winery by Frank Gehry boasts 5-star hotel and spa
Elciego, La Rioja Alta, SPAIN, December, 2006 – With the inauguration of the
dramatic US $100 million Marqués de Riscal City of Wine in October, one
of Spain’s wine regions, La Rioja, is transforming itself into a wine tourism
destination. In the past two years, a wine museum has debuted, a Santiago
Calatrava-designed winery has opened and a Zaha Hadid tasting room was
inaugurated. Recognizing travelers’ growing interest, the Spanish government is
developing rutas del vino, wine routes that will lead visitors through vineyards
to wineries, tasting rooms, restaurants and charming haciendas.
Frank Gehry’s swirl of pink, gold and silver titanium and steel ribbons
houses some of the public rooms of the Hotel Marqués de Riscal, a Luxury
Collection hotel: the restaurant, bar, reception area and striking penthouse
lounge. In a separate building across a bridge, the 43 roomy suites have high
ceilings, king size beds and all the latest technology: LCD TV, CD player and
high speed Internet and wireless access.
There’s no doubt that the City of Wine will be exciting for gourmands, wine
aficionados and those who simply must stay in the latest design hotel.
Michelin-starred chef Francisco Paniego from the renowned Echaurren Restaurant
has been named the consultant for the Marqués de Riscal Restaurant and José
Ramón Piñeiro will direct the kitchen. The 10,000-square-foot Vinothérapie spa
from the Caudalie pioneers will offer wine baths, grapevine wraps and massages
with grape seed oil. And then there’s The Cathedral, the
wine cellar that is home to vintages from every harvest since 1862. Founded in
1858, Marqués de Riscal was the first winery in La Rioja to produce wines
following the Bordeaux method.
www.marquesderiscal.com
Spain promotes wine tourism to a growing audience
With the worldwide acclaim its wines have been receiving, it seems only
natural that Spain should look to wine tourism. The country has more land “under
vine” – almost 1.2 million hectares – than any other country in the world and is
third in wine production after France and Italy, with 42 million hectoliters.
Two years ago the Dinastía Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine opened in
Briones showcasing 5,000 wine-related antiquities and art. Rhytons and ceramic
vases from ancient Greece, a Chinese wine vessel from the Zhou Dynasty (1027-771
B.C.), wine goblets of Egyptian glass (XXII Dynasty, 945-715 B.C.), and bronzes
from the Late Dynastic period (1069-343 B.C.) are displayed with 17th century
Mannerist silver sea-shell cups and 18th century French tastevins.
More than 150
paintings, etchings and engravings from the 16th to the 20th centuries by Andrea
Mantegna, José de Ribera, Joaquin Sorolla and Pablo Picasso present Bacchus and
scenes of revelry. The museum boasts the world’s largest public collection –
some 3,000 – of antique and contemporary corkscrews which show the English
preference for brass, the French for silver and the Americans for horn.
Divided
into five thematic sections, the permanent collection features old Riojan wooden
wine presses, 18th century brass stills and 19th century copper extractors.
Visitors can learn about the history of wine making, take a stroll through the
vineyards and gardens and later, dine at the winery’s restaurant directed by
chefs Maribel Frades and Jon Zubeldia who trained in the kitchens at Arzak and
El Bulli. www.dinastiavivanco.es
Last year Santiago Calatrava designed an undulating low-rise building
surrounded by reflecting pools that echoes the Rioja landscape for Bodega Ysios.
The bodega, whose design was inspired by rows of wine barrels, sits at the base
of the Sierra de Cantabria and is open for tours.
Award-winning architect Zaha Hadid created a tasting room at the López de
Heredia winery in Haro by wrapping the company’s hand-carved kiosk from the 1910
World’s Fair in gold-tinted steel. Shaped like a decanter and furnished with
wine-colored Corian benches also created by Hadid, the tasting room adds a
contemporary touch to this 129-year-old winery – one of the region’s oldest
still in family hands. The original structure dating from 1877 has a windmill, a
watch tower confection of Victorian gingerbread, a cooperage where artisanal
barrels are made and underground caves for aging the wines.
www.lopezdeheredia.com
Seventeen official wine routes guide oenophiles to bodegas
The Spanish government – along with the Association of Wine Cities of Spain (ACEVIN)
– is developing 17 wine routes throughout the country. The already-established
ruta del vino winding through La Rioja Alavesa identifies 35 bodegas. The
following are open for tours and tastings and lunches for groups can be arranged
by reserving in advance: Bodegas Franco Españoles, Bodegas Juan Alcorta, Bodegas
Marqués de Murrieta, Bodegas del Marqués de Vargas, Bodegas Olarra, Bodegas
Otañón and Bodegas Viña Ijalba.
Philippe Mazieres designed an enormous building
in the shape of an oak vat for Viña Real of the CVNE group. Several years ago
native son Iñaki Aspiaza created a striking glass box rising like a lighthouse
over the vineyards of Bodegas Baigorri with the production facilities buried
underground. In addition to tours of its winery, the Bodega Izadi offers lodging
and dining at its Michelin-starred restaurant. The route also visits Bodegas de
Posada Mayor de Migueloa which boasts a small inn and restaurant in its restored
1619 Palacio de Viana.
Besides the wineries, the region has many sights of historical and cultural
interest to entice visitors. Inhabited since Neolithic times, the Celtiberians
left their mark as did the Romans who settled for seven centuries. Fortified in
the 13th century, the charming medieval hill town of Laguardia overlooks the
Ebro River and has a beautiful 16th century church, Santa Maria de los Reyes,
with Spain’s only polychrome portal. More than 50 Renaissance mansions are
clustered within the city walls and beneath the town’s cobble stone streets lie
cavas, subterranean wine cellars that belonged to the wealthy wine-making
families of Laguardia. And of course, Gehry’s other architectural wonder, the
Guggenheim is only a few hours drive away in Bilbao.
The Dinastía Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine is located at Carretera
Nacional 232, km 442 in Briones, about ten kilometers from Haro. Open October
through June from 10 AM to 6 PM (Fridays and Saturdays until 8 PM) and July
through September from 10 AM to 8 PM and closed Mondays, admission is $7.60. For
more information, call: 011-34-902-32-00-01 or email:
infomuseo@dinastiavivanco.es.
For more information about Spain, contact your travel provider or the Tourist Office of Spain in New
York (212-265-8822); Miami (305-358-1992); Chicago (312-642-1992) or Los Angeles
(323-658-7188) or go to www.spain.info.
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