The walled wine village in the Basque Rioja — underground medieval bodegas, the Frank Gehry Hotel Marques de Riscal, and the best Rioja Alavesa from Basque-owned vineyards
Laguardia is a medieval walled village in the Rioja Alavesa wine subzone of Alava province (the Basque Country) — at 635m on a prominent hill overlooking the Ebro valley from the north, 17km southeast of Vitoria-Gasteiz, with the Cantabrian mountains forming a dramatic backdrop and the vineyards of the Rioja Alavesa spreading across the valley floor below the village walls. The Rioja Alavesa differs from the Rioja Alta (where Haro and Logrono are): the vineyards are on the north bank of the Ebro, in Basque territory (hence the hyphenated DOCa: Rioja but from Alava), the bodegas are predominan…
Laguardia was founded as a defensive watchtower settlement (La Guardia — the Guardhouse) in the 10th century, controlling the strategic Ebro valley pass through the Cantabrian foothills. The medieval walls (largely intact, with three surviving gates) enclosed the village and its population until the 19th century; the underground bodega network beneath the village was excavated progressively from the medieval period to provide cool, stable temperature storage for wine that the hilltop position made difficult above ground. The Marques de Riscal winery (founded 1858 by Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga,…