Castillo Labastida

Labastida is established in 1964 and is owned by the Union de Cosecheros de Labastida, a group of 152 independent growers. Together, they farm 1,400 acres of Tempranillo and Viura vines with an average age of over 30 years, producing red wines of spectacular power and intensity. Labastida’s highly skilled winemaker Manuel Ruiz carries on family tradition as the son of one of the foremost scholar-enologists in Rioja.

While modern within, Labastida’s winery is situated in the original homestead of Manuel Quintano, one of the most influential figures in Rioja winemaking. Quintano, a clergyman, arrived in Rioja in 1786 from Bordeaux, bringing with him extensive winemaking knowledge. His influence is still seen today in the winery’s use of American oak barrels. Castillo Labastida has recognized Quintano’s contributions to Rioja winemaking by naming one of its reserve wines in his honor.

Winery produces 3,000,000 bottles annually.

Labastida is a beautiful old village in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria in the Rioja Alavesa sub-region, northwest of the city of Haro. The altitude here is higher and the climate cooler and wetter than in the rest of Rioja, which results in wines of unusual freshness.

Labastida wines undergo fermentation in stainless steel followed by one year in French and American oak and one year in bottle. The combination of thirty-year-old vines and meticulous winemaking create elegant Riojas with an unabashed and delicious sense of place. The winemaker is Manuel Ruiz Pedreira.

Manuel Ruiz Pedreira was born in Vitoria in the Basque Region of Spain. He studied at the School of Vine and Wine in Madrid, where he qualified as a Technical Specialist in Viticulture and Vinotechnics. He also holds a degree in Enology. Over the course of his 16-year career in wine, Manuel has gained a wealth of experience, including work at various wineries and vineyards throughout Europe. In addition to numerous wineries in the Rioja, Navarra and Valencia regions of Spain, he has worked for wine producers as far away as Scotland and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

Manuel joined the Castillo Labastida cooperative in May of 2000, where he currently has overall responsibility for vineyard management and winemaking. Among his many accomplishments in this role are the design and creation of new winery facilities, the implementation of new quality control systems, and the development of new vineyard management and vinification techniques. He has also conducted extensive research on topics ranging from the use of biosensors and IR color analysis to winery automation and the use of plastic bottle-closers. Manuel was fortunate to begin learning about wine at a very early age, as his father is one of the foremost scholar-enologists in the Rioja.