Aiurri, which means character in Basque, is fittingly the name of Alma Carraovejas’ new winery in Rioja Alavesa. The winery is located in the small town of Leza, but driving through town, you would never know it’s there unless you had been given directions on how to find it. This was the plan all along when the team at Alma Carraovejas decided to become one of the neighbors of the approximately 200 residents of Leza. To achieve this seamless impact on the architectural beauty of the town, Alma refurbished an old stone building in town and, in doing so, was able to marry the character of the town to a state-of-the-art winery capable of giving them the ability to craft some of the best wines in the region.
As expected from the team of Alma Carraovejas, the attention to detail at Aiurri is impeccable. The winery is intimate yet inviting, elegant yet functional and modern yet warm. Although the winery is fully running and the spaces are breathtaking, there are still some spaces that are still in progress, which highlights the forward-thinking vision of Alma’s CEO Pedro Ruiz, and his team.
At Aiurri, the team is looking to make wines from small plots that best represent the biodiversity of the region. To do so, Aiurri has revived some of the old vine vineyards of Leza, which, under their care, are already producing some beautiful fruit. At the moment, Aiurri is crafting three wines: Landua, Aiurri and Salas. All of the wines they produce are crafted using fruit from small plots, but perhaps the most unique one is Salas, as the winemaking team is using only fruit from their 2.6-hectare vineyard, which sits at the feet of the Toloño Mountain Range.
It had been a while since we had visited Rioja, but visiting Aiurri reminded us what a spectacle of a region Rioja Alavesa is. Aiurri might be relatively new to town, but is already making wines with a great sense of place and character which showcase the diversity of the microclimates that coexist together in this region. The wines might be elusive to find, as they sell out quickly, but it’s worth the effort trying to find them as they beautifully capture the delicious essence of the grapes grown in this storied wine-making region of Spain.
