In 1950 Vareia was planted, a 1.8-hectare plot of the Tempranillo variety, with heads of white varieties, located in the vicinity of Beronia, a winery located in Ollauri (Rioja Alta). This vineyard has grown on clayey-calcareous soil with rounded pebbles and excellent drainage. The soil is poor in substrate, which gives rise to low productions.
It comes from one of the first vineyards in the DO Calificada Rioja to achieve the qualification of ‘Singular Vineyard’, which requires production, aging, storage and bottling within the same winery; a minimum age of the vineyard of 35 years; a maximum production of 5,000 kilos per hectare in red varieties and 6,922 in white varieties and, among other requirements, a maximum transformation yield of 65%.
From this winery of the González Byass group it is stated that “Vareia is an ideal setting to produce wines that fully represent the essence of their origin: the terroir”. It is added that it is a red made “to remember, surprise and share with friends”, and that “it was born among friends to be enjoyed by friends”. It takes the name of Vareia, which was the capital of the Berones in the 3rd century BC. d. c.
Today it is called Varea, and it is a town of minor entity with about 1,900 inhabitants attached to the municipality of Logroño. In fact, the name of Bodegas Beronia refers to the name given in ancient times to the area known today as La Rioja. The Berones were a pre-Roman people in the Bronze and Iron Ages of the Iberian Peninsula. They occupied a large territory in the Ebro river depression, occupying part of what is now Álava, Burgos, La Rioja and Navarra.
The 2019 harvest was rated ‘Excellent’ by the DO Ca. Rioja Regulatory Council, which had not happened since 2011. The excellent health and vegetative situation of the vineyard and the condition of the bunches, loose, stood out from this vintage. , well aerated and accompanied by the moderate vigor of the plants. The harvest is manual.
Yields are only about 3,500 kilos per hectare. Matías Calleja, manager and winemaker of Bodegas Beronia, affirms that “90% of our wines, if not 100%, are organic”, although only one of his lines is certified. They work with mating disruption techniques to combat the cluster moth, leave groundcovers with wild grasses that they mow and fertilize with sheep droppings. If necessary, and not in order to obtain higher productions, they use precision irrigation. Matías Calleja states that “we also seek excellence in viticulture, although in a sustainable way”. They submit their wines to more than 120 analytical parameters.
The wine is gently pressed and the must undergoes cold pre-fermentation maceration for a few days, followed by alcoholic fermentation, below 26ºC, with periodic pump-overs and post-fermentative maceration. The production continues with malolactic fermentation in tartarized concrete tanks, aging for 11 months in a 3,500-litre foudre made of new French oak and bottled for 7 months before being sold. Filtration is very smooth. A total of 4,500 three-quarter-litre bottles have been produced from this first vintage.
It has a color between ruby ??and picota cherry, and with slightly tinted tears. It has a medium-high layer and shows tartrates (crystallizations) and some precipitation of coloring matter. It is a markedly floral red (violets and tender peonies on a background of rose powder). It also exhibits notes of vanilla, black and red fruit, spices, pencil point (graphite) and licorice. The aging in wood is measured, and very well integrated into the wine.
With 14.5º of alcohol that does not detract from its elegance. And it shows a fresh and slightly menthol finish that makes it very interesting. Despite this, a little more time per bottle will suit you very well. From this Ollauri winery it is stated that “it is voluminous, balanced and well structured on the palate, three traits that show all the virtues of a great Tempranillo from the DO Ca. Rioja”. Matías Calleja, who was recognized with the title of Legendary Winemaker in the latest edition of Tim Atkin’s Rioja 2023 Special Report, affirms that “it is a super-modern Rioja”, and adds that “there is nothing classical about it”. He also points out that it is “a tribute to Tempranillo”.
From Beronia it is stated that this 100% Tempranillo “is ideal” to accompany Iberian sausages, grilled red meats and chocolate desserts. The manager and winemaker of Bodegas Beronia highlights its gastronomic versatility. He likes to pair Vareia 2019 with “powerful” appetizers such as duck micuit, but also with grilled turbot, stuffed capon or pularda, suckling lamb cheeks, oxtail or stewed pigeon . It is also a great ally of some grilled lamb chops like the ones served at the La Vieja Bodega restaurant in Casalarreina (La Rioja). It is recommended to serve at a temperature between 16 and 18º C.
The philosophy of Bodegas Beronia, they affirm, is based on three fundamental aspects: “the quality of its wines, respect for the environment and its concern to investigate in the world of oenology, but always maintaining the essence of La Rioja”. It was founded in 1973 by a group of friends who used to meet in a txoko to share their passion for gastronomy and wine.
They still have some bottles of their founding wine from 1973, which is spectacularly well maintained, with notes of dried Italian tomato, leather, bay leaf, eucalyptus and good acidity. The table where to eat was the first thing they thought about when building their winery. They placed it on the third floor and, at first, accessed it through a precarious staircase with scaffolding railings. “Friendship, work and passion for wine” have marked his career from the beginning. In a short time, Beronia became a benchmark winery for its reservas and grandes reservas, made in the purest and most traditional Rioja style.
In 1982 González Byass incorporated Bodegas Beronia into his Wine Family. The path of the veteran oenologist Matías Calleja joined that of Beronia also in 1982 and, throughout his 40 harvests in this Riojan winery, he has endowed his wines with a singular personality. He has done it with his own character, the well-known “Beronia style”. In this pioneering elaboration in the DO Ca. Rioja, Calleja opted for aging in mixed barrels, with American oak staves and French oak lids, obtaining wines that, adapted to new consumer trends, remained “faithful to their origin”.
The impressive new Beronia winery, inaugurated on June 6 last year in Ollauri, has been the first in the world to obtain a rating that represents the highest recognition of sustainable construction awarded by the US Green Building Council. It is spacious and functional, and at the same time surprises visitors with its architecture, landscaping, and aesthetics. It stands out for its great integration into the landscape. In it they have focused on the production of Reserva and Gran Reserva wines. It is located next to the foundational winery.
The architecture was signed by IDOM, led by the architects Gonzalo Tello and Borja Gómez, and its spectacular landscaping was entrusted to Isaac Escalante Camus. Considered one of the “10 10 Business Examples
Its unique design; the revolutionary system for harnessing geothermal energy to air-condition the facilities and achieve lower energy consumption; the use of three other renewable energies (aerothermal, photovoltaic and solar thermal) and the technological innovations that it treasures, such as the Cleanwood system, make it, according to González Byass, “the most efficient and sustainable winery in the world”. In addition, thanks to its design and operation, it ensures the indoor environmental quality and well-being for its occupants and visitors in relation to thermal and lighting comfort and air quality with intelligent CO? detection and expulsion systems.
Road and industrial engineers, architects, ecologists, hydrogeologists, experts in indoor environmental quality, and physicists, among others, have participated in this project that represents “a holistic approach to creating a winery,” where all the elements that make it up affect in the future of the wines that are produced. Machinery, fermentation tanks and barrels, as well as the building itself, with its location and arrangement on the ground, its materials and the systems that make it up, converge towards a single objective, according to Beronia: “the production of unique wines that faithfully express the essence of this wine-producing region and provide moments of enjoyment among friends”.
They currently make around 6 million bottles a year. This year they hope to export 40% of their production. The United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Sweden and Germany are its main international markets. Taking advantage of the new winery, they have intensified their commitment to wine tourism. Picnics at the foot of the vineyard, rides on electric bicycles and tastings from the terrace of its wine bar and shop are some of the wine activities offered to visitors. The proposals also reach the gastronomic world thanks to the ‘Txoko Experience’.
