Aranda de Duero
Burgos · Castile and León
DO Ribera del Duero33.956inhabitants
989first mention
1503wine documented
A town of the Ribera del Duero and the main settlement in southern Burgos. Its effective resettlement dates from the first half of the 10th century, with the Castilian advance to the Duero line, after an attempt attributed to Ordoño I (861) that came to nothing.
First mention: A document of October 989 from the archive of the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, concerning the alliance of Bermudo II, Sancho Garcés II and Count García Fernández, mentions Aranda. The report from 940–941 about the “Campos de Aranda” comes from later chroniclers.
The legend
late 15th century - 1503The lawsuit of 1503 and the cellars beneath the town
In 1503 some townspeople wanted to demolish several houses that blocked the way from Calle Barrionuevo to the church of Santa María. The owners, Alonso de Moradillo and Gonzalo Sánchez de Calahorra, objected: beneath their houses they had a cellar with vats where they made wine, and they feared that the passage of horses and carts would ruin it. The lawsuit reached the court of the Catholic Monarchs, which ordered the houses to be demolished and fair compensation paid. For the case a plan of the town was drawn, which is now kept in the General Archive of Simancas, has been on UNESCO's Memory of the World register since 2017 and is considered the oldest urban plan in Spain. Many of the underground cellars already existed by then.
Alive today: More than 5 km of galleries and cellars survive beneath the historic centre. They are a Bien de Interés Cultural as an ethnological ensemble (file of 2014), and some can be visited, such as the Bodega de las Ánimas or the historic Don Carlos. The patron saint is the Virgen de las Viñas, whose festivities are held in September. Aranda was European City of Wine in 2022 and is the largest town in the DO Ribera del Duero.
Wineries and their wines
- Cyclo
- El Buey
- Los Cantos de Torremilanos
- Monte Castrillo
- Torre Albéniz
- Torremilanos
- Vega Lara
- Vinlara
- Martín Berdugo
- Martín Berdugo Barrica
- Martín Berdugo Crianza
- Martín Berdugo Joven
- Martín Berdugo Reserva
- Martín Berdugo Rosado
- Martín Berdugo Verdejo
Wine towns nearby