Wine from winery Vinícola Real

History of the winery

Bodegas Vinícola Real is a winery in La Rioja led by Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, an oenologist from a family that was forever dedicated to the distillation of orujos (a pomace brandy) and spritis.
Miguel Ángel started a contract with the world of wine when his family bought a small winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, the winery would become dedicated to the making of wines and sale in bulk.

In order to perform more complex production, Miguel Ángel founded Bodegas Vinícola Real in 1989, a small winery with the idea of producing great estate wines and search for maximum quality.

The winery is located in Albelda de Iregua, a small town with only 3000 inhabitants, built very near the chapel of Santa Catalina, the only part that is conserved today is the monastery of San Martín de Albelda, a monastery of great importance in the area during the Middle Ages.

Therefore the wine takes the name of the flag, 200 Monges (200 Monks), a tribute to the monasteries and monks who lived there during the Middle Ages and developed the wine culture.

Since the first vintage, 1994, 200 Monges has not stopped reaping the international awards and wide acceptance from the public.

In 2006, Miguel Ángel began a new project, Bodega Urbión, with the idea of developing modern Riojan red wines at very reasonable prices.


Philosophy of their work

Bodegas Vinícola Real has 18 hectares of vineyards, mostly old vines which grow the Tempranillo grape, but also some with Graciano and Mazuelo, all typical Riojan varieties. They also have vineyards from other producers which they control. The white varieties that they work with are Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca and Moscatel.

Bodegas Vinícola Real believes in the concept of traditional viticulture with different compositions of soils and various types of weather, allowing them to select the grapes and produce an excellent quality wine with a lot of character.

The harvest is done manually and very carefully to avoid breaking the bunches. The grapes arrive at the winery in small boxes of 15kg.
Once in the winery, the grape bunches go through a manual selection process and the grapes are separated from those that are not perfectly healthy. The thickest part of the stalk is removed carefully so as not to break the grains and then the selected grapes are used to make the Reserva and Gran Reserva wines.

The selection of the grapes is an important process for the aging of the wine. Bodegas Vinícola Real use oak barrels that rest in an excavated rock cave which naturally facilitates constant optimal conditions throughout the year, both in temperature and humidity.
Once the barrel aging is complete, the wine is bottled and stored for a while before it appears on the market.

Wines from Bodegas Vinícola Real

The wines from Bodegas Vinícola Real are based on two key points. A selection of extraordinary fruits paired with great handling of long aged wines, typical in La Rioja. As for the wine from this winery we present a series of versions of 200 Monges such as 200 Monges Reserva, 200 Monges Gran Reserva and 200 Monges Selección Especial. Different crianzas, all of which have a great quality.
Additionally, a wine that stands out is Cueva del Monge Blanco, a marvellous white wine with a small aging time in the barrel.