Cordovín · Alto Najerilla, Rioja
Bodegas Iván del Río
A family bodega in Cordovín, in Rioja's Alto Najerilla, working old vines of Garnacha, Viura and Malvasía de Rioja parcel by parcel — and reviving the village's own pale wine, clarete.
Cordovín is a small village in the valley of the Alto Najerilla, in Rioja Alta, ten minutes from the monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla. Bodegas Iván del Río is a family bodega here, in the Barrio de San Martín — the old cellar quarter, where calados more than a century old run back into the hillside.
This is a cooler, greener corner of Rioja than most people picture. The climate is Atlantic, the soils are iron-rich clay, and together they give wines with a personality all their own. Iván works old vines of Garnacha, Malvasía de Rioja and Viura parcel by parcel, letting each vineyard’s cycle and character set the pace.
Clarete, Cordovín’s own wine
If Cordovín is known for one thing, it is clarete. The traditional way to make it is to pick red Garnacha and white Viura together and press them straight away, which gives a very pale, coppery wine: fresh, light and endlessly versatile, and woven into the history of the village and the valley.
Iván has taken up that tradition and given it a more modern reading. His clarete keeps the character of the old wine, but uses only the free-run juice — the mosto flor, or lágrima — from the ripest grapes.
A small collection
Alongside their everyday Yursun and Melo wines, the bodega makes a tiny collection of three parcel wines that are meant to show off Cordovín and the climate of the Alto Najerilla: Liberatus, from century-old Garnacha; La Aguzadera, from Viura planted in 1970; and La Danzadora, a clarete from Garnacha planted in 1972. So few bottles are made each vintage that the bodega lets customers reserve their share in advance.
Visiting
Iván’s tastings are kept small on purpose, so a visit feels more like a conversation than a tour: a walk through the Barrio de San Martín and its old calados, a look at the vines, and a tasting with the winemaker to finish. Read the bodega’s reviews and one line keeps coming up: people stayed far longer than they meant to.
In the glass
The wines
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Red · century-old Garnacha
Liberatus
From a hundred-year-old Garnacha vineyard in Cordovín, fermented in open 225-litre barrels. A red with a distinctly Atlantic accent: fruity and floral, with volume and elegance, and a long, perfumed finish.
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White · Viura planted in 1970
La Aguzadera
Fermented in 500-litre bocoyes and aged five months on its lees. Citrus, pineapple, apple and a touch of the bakery that grows in the glass; fresh and generous, with a long finish.
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Clarete · Garnacha planted in 1972
La Danzadora
A nod to Las Danzas, Cordovín's traditional dances, which the village traces back to 1050. Fermented in 500-litre bocoyes with three months on lees: bright acidity, fresh red and stone fruit, delicate and very long.
Filmed at the bodega
Harvest in Cordovín
Photographs from Bodegas Iván del Río
From Una Copa
