Bodegas Las Cepas

The story

Seven Harvests Before the Label

In 1996 the family at Bodegas Las Cepas stopped using conventional inputs across their Uruñuela vineyard holdings and began farming organically. Rioja at the time ran on cooperatives and consistent conventional production, and there was no established market for small-estate organic wine from the appellation. The family had no clear buyer for what they were growing differently. They farmed that way regardless, through seven harvests, and did not put a certified organic bottle under the Boca Chancla label until 2003. Most estates that made similar pivots in that era either rushed a label to market before certification was solid or abandoned the project when the income gap proved too wide. The Boca Chancla bottle that reached export markets carried those seven years quietly, with no annotation on the label to say how long the vineyard had been waiting for it.

From the atlas

Bodegas Las Cepas

At A Glance

Producer: Bodegas Las Cepas Village: Uruñuela, Rioja Alta Country: Spain Grape: Tempranillo Key Wine: Boca Chancla Semi Crianza Farming: Organic (certified from 2003, farmed organically from 1996)

The Producer

Bodegas Las Cepas farms Tempranillo in Uruñuela, a village in Rioja Alta, the western and most elevated sub-zone of the Rioja DOCa. The family has cultivated vineyards here across several generations. What sets them apart in the region is not scale but timing: they began farming organically in 1996, seven years before organic wine production became commercially common for small Rioja estates, and held that commitment long enough to launch certified organic bottles under their own label in 2003.

The listed wine is Boca Chancla, a Tempranillo-only red. It has firm, lively tannins.

Place

Rioja Alta sits in the western reaches of the Rioja DOCa, where the Ebro valley narrows and altitude climbs. Uruñuela, one of the sub-zone's smaller villages, benefits from that elevation: cooler growing temperatures than the flatter, hotter Rioja Baja to the east, longer hang time for Tempranillo, and the kind of slow-developing acidity that allows a wine to stay fresh across a meal rather than flattening out after the first pour.

Rioja Alta is where French oak became most deeply rooted in Spanish winemaking. The tradition arrived in the nineteenth century when Bordeaux merchants crossed the Pyrenees after phylloxera devastated French vineyards, and Rioja producers adopted the barrique alongside the grape.

Soil And Site

The sourced packet does not provide confirmed detail on soil composition or specific vineyard plots for Bodegas Las Cepas. What is confirmed is the sub-zone: Rioja Alta, where clay-limestone soils predominate across much of the growing area and contribute to the firm tannin profile typical of wines from the western Rioja. Uruñuela sits at an elevation consistent with cooler ripening compared to lower-altitude Rioja villages.

Story

The family made a decision in 1996 that would take seven years to pay off commercially. Organic farming in Rioja was not a recognised market category at the time. Conventional viticulture was standard across the appellation, supported by decades of cooperative production and a regional industry built on consistency and volume. The family changed course anyway, committing to organic practices across their vineyard holdings without a clear route to market for the resulting wine.

By 2003 they were bottling and selling certified organic wine under the Boca Chancla label. What happened in the intervening years is not fully documented: likely a combination of bulk grape sales, building certification, and constructing a bottling operation capable of supporting their own label. The seven-year gap between the farming commitment and the first commercial release is the clearest evidence of how that decision was made. It was not a marketing pivot. It was a farming decision that the market eventually caught up with it.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate has farmed organically since 1996, which at Rioja Alta's latitude means no synthetic herbicides, fungicides, or fertilisers across the vine rows. Organic viticulture in a continental climate with warm summers and cold winters requires more active vineyard management than conventional farming: canopy work, copper and sulphur treatments for disease pressure, and careful timing around the humidity windows that favour fungal problems.

Boca Chancla Semi Crianza is made from 100 percent Tempranillo. The tannins are described as al dente, meaning they are present and firm on the palate rather than polished smooth.

Wines

The confirmed range centres on Boca Chancla, a Tempranillo-only red available in a Semi Crianza format.

The appearance is ruby garnet with a slow, dense fall in the glass and garnet evolution toward deep red at the rim. The aromatic range is wide: rose petal and blueberry from the Tempranillo fruit, wild strawberry, vanilla, graphite, marjoram, coffee, and a saline mineral thread that runs through both nose and palate. The overall character is aromatic and layered rather than simple.

Information on other wines in the range was not confirmed in verified sources.

In The Glass

Boca Chancla Semi Crianza opens with saline, powerful aromas: coffee, dark mineral character, and a floral thread of rose petal that lifts the nose before the darker fruit arrives. Wild strawberry and blueberry fill the middle aromatic register, with vanilla and ground clove alongside them, and marjoram and graphite adding a dry herbal edge.

In the mouth the wine is firm and direct. The tannins are lively and grippy rather than soft, described in producer tasting notes as al dente, and the palate adds bitter and spicy flavours alongside the dark fruit from the nose. The finish is not gentle. It holds its grip and asks for food. That saline thread that opens the nose carries through the palate, giving the wine a dry mineral character that separates it from the sweeter, fruitier style of Tempranillo common at this oak level.

The ruby garnet colour with its slow fall in the glass indicates density and concentration. The wine is not light-bodied. It is built for the table rather than the aperitif.

A Bottle To Understand It

Boca Chancla Semi Crianza is the bottle to start with. It is 100 percent Tempranillo from organically farmed vines in Uruñuela, and it reads as a wine that does not try to flatter early. The rose petal and blueberry fruit from the nose is real, but what holds the palate is the firm, lively tannin, the saline mineral thread, and the coffee-edged bitterness on the finish.

Anecdote

In 1996 the family at Bodegas Las Cepas stopped using conventional inputs across their vineyard holdings in Uruñuela and began farming organically. Rioja at the time was a world of cooperatives and consistent conventional production, and there was no established market for small-estate organic wine from the appellation. The family had no clear buyer for what they were growing differently. They farmed that way regardless, through seven harvests, and did not put a certified organic bottle under their own Boca Chancla label until 2003. Seven years between the farming decision and the first commercial release is not a soft commitment. Most estates that made similar pivots in that era either rushed a label to market before the certification was solid or abandoned the project when the income gap proved too wide. The Boca Chancla bottle that reached export markets carried those seven years quietly, with no annotation on the label to say how long the vineyard had been waiting for it.

Final Word

Bodegas Las Cepas is a small estate with a long commitment. The organic farming decision came twenty-seven years before this page was written, and the wine it produces today, a Tempranillo red with genuine grip, saline mineral character, and coffee-laced depth, is the direct result. Boca Chancla Semi Crianza is not a crowd-pleaser by design. It is a wine built around the character of organic Tempranillo in Rioja Alta, and it delivers that character without softening the edges.

Sources

• https://riojawine.com/en-us/bodegas-rioja/bodegas-las-cepas/
• https://drinkspanish.com.au/products/bocachancla-semi-crianza-2019
• https://privateceller.es/en/red-wine-wine/4504936-red-wine-boca-chancla-doca-rioja-spain-75-cl-8437008224374.html