Text and picture: Antonio Colmenar
In the first foothills of Álava, right after leaving the river Ebro behind to go into the town of Elciego, we find the wine cellars of Marqués de Riscal, one of the most appreciated wines in Spain and abroad.
The aforementioned wine cellars are famous in the area because of the modern building, designed by the Canadian architect Frank O.Gehry, which somehow resembles the Guggenheim museum of Bilbao. There is a luxury hotel inside of it with 43 rooms, a terrace-viewpoint with views to the vineyards and the Sierra of Cantabria, as well as a wine bar-cafe with a spectacular wine rack and a terrace that invites to taste some of the pinchos that have made La Rioja and the Basque Country famous.
The so called Wine City is a complex with an area close to 100,000 square metres dedicated to the elaboration, the treatment and the study of the wine in the oldest wine cellar of Marqués de Riscal, which dates back to 1858, although it was later extended in 1883.