Spain · Rioja

Bodegas Bilbaìnas

Haro's oldest bottling house, founded by French merchants fleeing oidium in 1859, with 3,400 square metres of historic underground cellars and a Tempranillo range led by Viña Pomal since 1904.

The producer

Bodegas Bilbaínas sits in Haro's Station Quarter, the district that grew up around the railway connecting Rioja to Bilbao and the Basque export ports. The house traces its ground to 1859, when the French merchant firm Savignon Frères crossed the Pyrenees to escape oidium, and its current entity to 1901, when Basque businessman Santiago Ugarte bought the property and turned it toward international markets. Three years later, Viña Pomal appeared on a label for the first time. The underground cellars, covering 3,400 square metres and cut from the earth in the late nineteenth century, remain among the largest historic cellars in Rioja.

The Viña Pomal range is built on Tempranillo aged in American oak. The Reserva spends 18 months in barrel, 20 percent of those casks new, then a minimum of two years in bottle. It opens with red fruit, floral notes, vanilla, and sweet spice, and carries a full, rounded mid-palate. The Gran Reserva adds Graciano to the blend, extending the barrel and bottle programme and pulling in toasty, balsamic notes alongside liquorice and firmer spice. Winemaker Mayte Calvo de la Banda works vineyard by vineyard before fruit reaches the cellar, and the house now distributes to more than 20 countries under Raventós Codorníu ownership.

Known for

Classic Rioja Tempranillo aged in American oak, Reserva and Gran Reserva tiers under the Viña Pomal label.

Notable facts

The story

The French Who Crossed the Pyrenees

In the early 1850s, oidium had moved through Bordeaux with enough force that the French merchant house Savignon Frères decided the only practical response was to leave. They crossed the Pyrenees and arrived in Haro in 1859, finding a town beside a river where the fungal disease that had ruined their harvests had not yet taken hold. They set up there, cut cellars into the earth, and began again. Forty-two years passed. In 1901, Santiago Ugarte, a Basque businessman who wanted to sell Spanish wine to the world, bought the property from the French. He opened commercial offices, arranged export routes through Bilbao, and in 1904 put Viña Pomal on a label for the first time. The French arrived to escape a disease. A Basque businessman turned their refuge into an export house. The name on the label has not changed since.

From the atlas

Bodegas Bilbaìnas

At A Glance

Producer: Bodegas Bilbaínas Location: Haro, Rioja Alta, Spain Grape: Tempranillo (Reserva), Tempranillo and Graciano (Gran Reserva) Flagship Wine: Viña Pomal Founded: 1859 (Savignon Frères); established as Bodegas Bilbaínas 1901 Winemaker: Mayte Calvo de la Banda

The Producer

Bodegas Bilbaínas is a red-wine house in Haro, the commercial capital of Rioja Alta in northern Spain. The house has operated on this same ground since 1859, when French merchants crossed the Pyrenees seeking a place that oidium had not yet reached. The current entity dates to 1901, when Basque businessman Santiago Ugarte bought the property and turned it toward export. Three years later, Viña Pomal appeared on a bottle for the first time, and it has been the house's flagship label ever since.

Under Raventós Codorníu ownership, the house now distributes to more than 20 countries. Underground, the production cellars cover 3,400 square metres, among the largest historic cellars in Rioja, cut from the earth in the late nineteenth century when this district was building for scale. Winemaker Mayte Calvo de la Banda runs the cellar on the understanding that the work begins in the vineyard, plot by plot, before a single grape reaches the press.

Place

Haro stands at the western end of Rioja Alta, the highest and coolest of the region's three principal zones. The town became a wine capital because of a railway line: the track connecting Haro to Bilbao and the Basque ports made Rioja wine exportable, and in the second half of the nineteenth century a cluster of bodegas grew up around the station to take advantage of it. That neighbourhood, known as the Station Quarter, still holds most of Haro's major historic houses, Bilbaínas among them.

Rioja Alta's cooler temperatures and higher elevation compared to Rioja Baja give its Tempranillo a firmer acidity and a longer ripening window, conditions that suit wine built for bottle ageing. The classical style that emerged here, Tempranillo aged in American oak and held in bottle before release, was designed as much for the journey as for the cellar.

Soil And Site

The packet does not carry soil composition data for Bilbaínas' vineyard holdings, so no specific claims are made here. What is documented: the vineyards are worked parcel by parcel under Mayte Calvo de la Banda's supervision, with plot-level decisions informing how fruit enters the cellar. The underground cellars, covering 3,400 square metres, provide stable conditions for the extended ageing programmes that both the Reserva and Gran Reserva require.

Story

The lineage of Bodegas Bilbaínas begins not in Spain but in Bordeaux. In the 1850s, oidium had spread through French vineyards, destroying harvests and driving producers to look elsewhere. The French merchant house Savignon Frères crossed the Pyrenees and arrived in Haro in 1859, establishing on ground that the fungus had not reached. They built cellars, planted vines, and made wine.

In 1901 Santiago Ugarte, a Basque businessman, bought the property. Ugarte's intention was export: he opened commercial offices across Spain and oriented the house toward international markets. In 1904 the first bottles of Viña Pomal left the cellars under that name, establishing what became Rioja's longest-running house brand. The Royal Spanish Household awarded Bilbaínas the title of Supplier in 1925, an honour that reflected the house's standing during a period when Rioja's reputation was still consolidating. Today the house operates under Raventós Codorníu, a Spanish drinks group, and the Viña Pomal name still anchors the range.

Vineyards And Cellar

Mayte Calvo de la Banda works the vineyards parcel by parcel, treating individual plots as distinct inputs rather than feeding a single blending programme. That approach shapes what arrives in the cellar: fruit from each parcel can be tracked separately before it reaches barrel.

In the cellar, American oak is the house's ageing wood. The Reserva spends 18 months in American oak barrels, with 20 percent of those casks new, then a minimum of two years in bottle before release. American oak contributes vanilla and sweet spice to the aromatic profile and a certain roundness to the mid-palate texture. The Gran Reserva adds a proportion of Graciano to the Tempranillo base and extends both the barrel and bottle time, which smooths the tannin further and allows the balsamic and toasty oak notes to integrate with the fruit.

Wines

The Viña Pomal range is built around Tempranillo in two main tiers. The Reserva is 100 percent Tempranillo at 14.5 percent alcohol, cherry red with a marked ruby rim, carrying floral and red fruit notes with sweet spice, vanilla, and a roasted edge that comes from the oak contact. The palate is full and fruit-forward, with the spice and vanilla continuing to integrate across the bottle ageing period. It is the most direct expression in the range.

The Gran Reserva introduces Graciano into the blend, adding a layer of firmer spice and aromatic complexity to the Tempranillo base. The colour deepens to garnet and cherry with light orange rim reflections, which mark the extended time in barrel and bottle. On the nose: liquorice, red fruit, and sweet spice from the Graciano, plus toasty and balsamic notes from the oak. The palate opens with a measured entry, builds across the mid-palate, and finishes long, with smooth and well-integrated tannins.

The house also produces La Vicalanda and Lumen as separate labels, though verified sensory notes for these wines are not available in the current record.

In The Glass

Across the Viña Pomal range, the house style is warm, oak-shaped, and built around Tempranillo's natural affinity for American wood. The Reserva opens with red fruit and florals, the spice and vanilla rising clearly from 18 months of barrel contact. In the mouth it is full, with a rounded mid-palate and enough acidity to keep the fruit from going flat. The oak and fruit move together rather than competing.

The Gran Reserva shows what extended time does to the same base. The aromatics have pulled in toasty and balsamic notes from the oak, and the Graciano contributes firmer spice and a slight herbal lift alongside the red fruit. The entry is measured, the build is gradual, and the finish is long. Tannins that might have been grippy in youth have smoothed out, the product of the barrel and bottle programme working in sequence. Both wines carry the lush, rounded character that has defined this house since Viña Pomal first appeared in 1904.

A Bottle To Understand It

Viña Pomal Reserva is the right first bottle. It is 100 percent Tempranillo, 18 months in American oak, and a minimum of two years in bottle before release, so by the time it reaches a table the fruit and wood have had time to settle into each other. The colour is deep cherry with a ruby rim. On the nose: red fruit, florals, vanilla, and sweet spice. In the mouth it is full-bodied but not heavy, with the vanilla and spice carrying through a rounded mid-palate to a clean finish. It gives a clear picture of what Haro's classic Tempranillo style produces and what American oak ageing adds to it.

Anecdote

In the early 1850s, oidium had moved through Bordeaux with enough force that the French merchant house Savignon Frères decided the only practical response was to leave. They crossed the Pyrenees and arrived in Haro in 1859, finding a town beside a river where the fungal disease that had ruined their harvests had not yet taken hold. They set up there, cut cellars into the earth, and began again. Forty-two years passed. In 1901, Santiago Ugarte, a Basque businessman who wanted to sell Spanish wine to the world, bought the property from the French. He opened commercial offices, arranged export routes through Bilbao, and in 1904 put Viña Pomal on a label for the first time. The French arrived to escape a disease. A Basque businessman turned their refuge into an export house. The name on the label has not changed since.

Final Word

Bodegas Bilbaínas carries 165 years of continuous production from a single address in Haro's Station Quarter, underground cellars large enough to age wines across multiple years, and a flagship label that has outlasted two ownership changes and two world wars. The Viña Pomal Reserva is a direct, honest expression of Rioja Alta Tempranillo in American oak, built for bottle ageing and priced within reach. The Gran Reserva, with its added Graciano and extended programme, shows what the same house does when it takes more time.

Sources

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