Criadores de Rioja is a winery established as recently as 2000. The winery is situated in the heart of Rioja, in a small town called Alberite in the southern hills.
You can learn more about the range of wine available in the UK (through Bibendum Wine Ltd.) on the Criadores de Rioja wine range page.
The mission at Criadores de Rioja is to make wines that were true to Rioja’s traditions, but also accessible to wine drinkers all over the world. The emphasis is on quality, and this begins in the vineyards.
Criadores de Rioja is heavily involved in supporting local grape growers, many of them small family vineyards that only sell what fits in the back of the family tractor trailer. These small vineyards have often been in the same family for many generations and it is only the long-term relationship with the winery that ensures that these small holdings can continue to work the land and afford to invest in the health and quality of their vines. This long standing support of the growers also means that the winery has access to the highest quality grapes, and means that they can work in partnership with the growers to recommend new viticultural changes and improvements in order to achieve the highest standards for their wines.
The winemaker at Criadores de Rioja, Paloma Redondo, crafts wines from each of the grapes and the different areas of Rioja, including some small productions from traditional vineyards. Paloma Redondo is an Agricultural Engineer and Oenology graduate of the University of La Rioja, and has been leading the viticultural and winemaking projects at Bodegas Criadores de Rioja since 2002. Paloma belongs to the new generation of Rioja winemakers who have brought many changes to winemaking in Rioja, largely through developing their analysis and understanding of their vineyards. Working in partnership with the viticultural team, Paloma Redondo is involved throughout the entire growth cycle, parcel by parcel, so that she can translate the individual character of each terroir to the wines.
Criadores de Rioja today makes a range of wines, many of them exported to some of the most demanding markets in the world such as the UK, the USA and Germany.
