From the atlas
Bodegas Campillo
At A Glance
Producer: Bodegas Campillo Region: Rioja Alavesa, DOCa Rioja, Spain Village: Laguardia, Álava Grapes: Tempranillo (reds); Viura, Chardonnay (white) Range: El Niño de Campillo, Crianza, Reserva Colección, Gran Reserva, Blanco Reserva Production: approximately 1 million bottles annually Estate: 50 hectares
The Producer
The winery at Bodegas Campillo is visible from the ancient ramparts of Laguardia before you reach the gate. Julio Faustino Martínez built it on the open hillside below the medieval walls in 1990, commissioning architect Aurelio Ibarrondo to create the first architect-designed winery in Rioja on the Bordeaux château model: a working building set inside its own estate vineyards, legible as a wine producer from a distance.
Campillo is the sixth estate of Familia Martínez Zabala, a fourth-generation Spanish winemaking family whose history in Rioja dates to 1861. Their flagship house, Bodegas Faustino, is the world's leading exporter of Rioja Gran Reserva wines. Campillo was conceived as something distinct within that enterprise: a single-estate operation in Rioja Alavesa with 50 hectares of hillside vines, producing Tempranillo across the full classification ladder from young red to long-aged Gran Reserva.
Place
Rioja Alavesa is the northernmost of Rioja's three sub-zones, separated from Rioja Alta by the Ebro river and sitting administratively within the Basque Country. The position matters for the wine. Laguardia, the sub-zone's central hill town, sits at elevation with Atlantic weather coming in from the north and a Sierra de Cantabria ridge moderating the temperature. The result in Tempranillo is firmer acidity and more aromatic lift compared with the warmer, flatter Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental growing zones to the south and east.
The DOCa Rioja classification system gives Campillo its label architecture. Crianza requires a minimum of two years total ageing with at least one in oak. Reserva requires three years with at least one in oak. Gran Reserva requires five years total with at least eighteen months in oak. Those rules shape what ends up in each bottle and at what price.
Soil And Site
The estate vineyards sit on the hillside below Laguardia's walls. At this elevation in Rioja Alavesa, altitude provides a natural brake on heat accumulation during the growing season, keeping fruit acid intact and extending the time on the vine before harvest. The site is visible from the walled town above it; the vines surround the château-concept building on the slope.
Specific soil data for the Campillo parcels has not been confirmed in verified sources. Rioja Alavesa as a zone is associated with limestone-clay soils, and the hillside position is consistent with that broader geology, but no parcel-level soil analysis has been sourced for this estate.
Story
The Martínez Zabala family began making wine in Rioja in 1861 under Eleuterio Martínez Arzok. Over four generations the family built multiple estates across Spain, with Bodegas Faustino becoming their internationally recognised Rioja house and, in time, the world's leading exporter of Rioja Gran Reserva wines.
By 1990, Julio Faustino Martínez realized his vision of building a Riojan château surrounded by vineyards. Julio Faustino chose the hillside below Laguardia deliberately, commissioned Ibarrondo to design a château-style winery, and planted the 50 hectares of estate vines that now supply the full range. The precise relationship between Eleuterio Martínez Arzok and Julio Faustino Martínez within the family has not been confirmed in sources; what is confirmed is that the same family enterprise connects 1861 to the present.
Current leadership of the family enterprise rests with Carmen and Lourdes Martínez Zabala, representing the fourth generation. In March 2026 the family appointed Grapejuice Group Imports as exclusive U.S. importer for Campillo, the latest move in a long programme of organised international expansion.
Vineyards And Cellar
Fifty hectares of estate vineyard in Rioja Alavesa supply all Campillo reds. Tempranillo is the primary grape across the range; no other red varieties have been confirmed in sourced material. The Blanco Reserva draws on Viura and Chardonnay.
Oak ageing is the principal cellar variable across the range, and the wood programme is differentiated by classification level. American oak appears in the Crianza and in the Blanco Reserva, where its broader grain contributes warm, vanilla-forward barrel character. French oak takes over as the dominant wood in the Reserva Colección and Gran Reserva, where its tighter grain means slower oxygen integration and more restrained toasty, spice notes rather than pronounced sweetness. The Gran Reserva spends a minimum of 24 months in French oak alone. That extended wood contact adds layers of vanilla, liquorice and ripe-fruit depth while rounding the tannins into the fleshy, ample palate the wine is known for.
Wines
The range runs five verified bottlings from young red to long-aged Gran Reserva, with a white Reserva alongside.
El Niño de Campillo is the youngest red: intense purple in colour, with fresh black fruit, a touch of wood on the nose, and a round, clean finish. It is the lightest-touch entry in the range, showing Tempranillo in a fruit-forward register before extended oak takes hold.
Campillo Crianza spends a minimum of 12 months in oak. Cherry-red with a ruby rim, it offers fresh fruit on the nose alongside warm, sweet barrel notes, with a smooth, toasted finish on the palate. The oak is present but not dominant.
Campillo Reserva Colección steps up to a minimum of 22 months in a combination of French and American oak. The nose becomes more layered: fruit, spice, toasted notes and cocoa alongside each other. The palate shows defined acidity and a long finish.
Campillo Gran Reserva is the top red: minimum 24 months in French oak, cherry-red deepening to a maroon rim, ripe fruit combining with vanilla and liquorice on the nose, and an ample, full, round, fleshy palate with a long, measured finish.
Campillo Blanco Reserva is a Viura and Chardonnay blend aged at least 6 months in American and French oak. Golden yellow in colour, it shows floral acacia notes and stone fruit on the nose, with good volume, integrated acidity and a marked bitter finish on the palate.
In The Glass
Across the red range, Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa expresses itself through cherry and dark berry fruit, firm but manageable tannin, and acidity that keeps the wine from feeling heavy. The hillside site and Atlantic-moderated climate in Laguardia preserve that freshness even in the longer-aged bottles.
Moving up the range, oak character builds and transforms. In the Crianza the wood adds warmth and a toasted edge to the fruit without covering it. In the Reserva Colección, spice and cocoa notes emerge from the extended oak contact and the tannins become more defined. The Gran Reserva shows French-oak contact with vanilla and liquorice notes, and the palate is round and fleshy after a minimum of 24 months in French oak.
The Blanco Reserva works in a different register entirely. Barrel ageing on a white wine in Rioja is a particular tradition, and here the acacia and peach aromas of Viura and Chardonnay sit alongside oak-derived warmth, with the acidity preventing the wine from feeling flat.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Campillo Crianza. It is Tempranillo aged 12 months in oak, cherry-red with a ruby rim, and it sits at the point in the range where the fruit and the barrel are in conversation rather than one overpowering the other. Fresh cherry and red berry come in first on the nose, then sweet, warm barrel notes follow. The palate is easy-drinking but has shape: a smooth, toasted finish rather than a rough or heavy one. It is the bottle that shows what Rioja Alavesa Tempranillo tastes like when given basic oak treatment and honest vineyard material, without the weight of long ageing or the demands of a Gran Reserva. Open it with grilled lamb or roasted peppers, or on its own.
Anecdote
In 1990, Julio Faustino Martínez had a decision to make about where to put the new winery. He chose the hillside below Laguardia's medieval ramparts, not a plot inside the town or on anonymous flat land at the valley floor, and then did something no Rioja producer had done before: he hired an architect. Aurelio Ibarrondo was commissioned to design a building on the Bordeaux château model, a building that would read as a winery sitting inside its own vineyards rather than a warehouse with tanks. Ibarrondo delivered the first architect-designed winery in Rioja. The building is visible from the ancient walls above it, and the estate vines run right up to its walls. Julio Faustino wanted the winery to look like what it was before a single bottle was opened.
Final Word
Bodegas Campillo is a Rioja Alavesa estate with a clear idea of itself: a hillside château below Laguardia's walls, 50 hectares of Tempranillo, and a range that walks the full length of the DOCa classification system from young fruit-led red to long-aged Gran Reserva. The Crianza is where to begin.
Sources
- https://riojawine.com/en-us/bodegas-rioja/bodegas-campillo/
- https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2026/03/04/familia-martinez-zabala-partners-with-grapejuice-group-for-us-representation/
- https://spanishwinelover.com/winerie/campillo
- https://www.bodegascampillo.com/en/wine/el-nino-de-campillo
- https://www.bodegascampillo.com/en/wine/campillo-crianza
- https://www.bodegascampillo.com/en/wine/campillo-gran-reserva
- https://www.bodegascampillo.com/en/wine/campillo-blanco-reserva
- https://www.bodegascampillo.com/en/wine/campillo-reserva-collection