Laguardia
Araba/Álava · Basque Country
DO CavaDOCa Rioja1.459inhabitants
1164first mention
1400wine documented
A walled town on a hilltop in Rioja Alavesa, between the Sierra de Cantabria and the Ebro. It began as a frontier stronghold of the Kingdom of Navarre and received its fuero (charter) from Sancho VI the Wise in 1164; Sancho VII the Strong reinforced its walls in the 13th century.
First mention: Fuero (charter) granted by Sancho VI the Wise of Navarre in 1164. Earlier, undated deeds mention the places “Legarda” and “Legarde” among the boundaries of Logroño and Marañón, though their identification is uncertain.
The legend
15th century (tithes); medieval caladosThe Casa Primicia and the calados beneath the town
Sancho VI the Wise of Navarre granted Laguardia a fuero in 1164 and made it a walled town. Beneath its streets the townspeople dug caves and family cellars, the calados, where wine was made and stored at a stable temperature. On Calle Páganos stands the Casa Primicia, held to be the oldest civil building in the town. From the beginning of the 15th century the Church collected the tithe and the primicia there, taxes on the harvest that included grapes. Over time the building fell into disuse. From 1973 the local grower Julián Madrid restored its calados and began making wine in them again, and so was born the bodega that today bears its name.
Alive today: The ground beneath Laguardia is still honeycombed with calados, and several can be visited. Casa Primicia still makes wine and ages it in the building's historic cellars. The municipality is in Rioja Alavesa, within the DOCa Rioja, and brings together century-old bodegas such as Bodegas Palacio (1894) alongside others of contemporary architecture.
Wineries and their wines
- Cosme Palacio
- Cosme Palacio Reserva
- Cosme Palacio Reserva Blanco
- Glorioso Blanco
- Glorioso Crianza
- Glorioso Gran Reserva
- Glorioso Reserva
- Glorioso Selección Especial
- Carravalseca Crianza
- Casa Primicia Blanco BL
- Casa Primicia Chardonnay
- Casa Primicia Crianza
- Casa Primicia Gran Reserva
- Casa Primicia Maceración Carbónica MC
- Casa Primicia Reserva
- Casa Primicia Rosado RO
- Pensante Maturana
- Pensante Selección Especial
Wine towns nearby