Bodegas Marqués de Reinosa
At A Glance
- **Location**
- Autol, Rioja Oriental, DOCa Rioja, Spain
- **Type**
- Cooperative
- **Founded**
- 1956
- **Key Grapes**
- Tempranillo, Garnacha, Tempranillo Blanco
- **Elevation**
- 500 to 750 metres
- **Anchor Bottle**
- Crianza (red)
The Producer
Bodegas Marqués de Reinosa is a cooperative winery in Autol, a town at the eastern edge of DOCa Rioja in the Rioja Oriental subzone. It was registered in 1956 as the San Isidro de Autol cooperative, when the grape growers of Autol chose to pool their vineyards rather than continue selling fruit in bulk to the large trading houses that dominated the region. The cooperative later renamed its commercial label Marqués de Reinosa, after Joaquín Garralda y Oñate, a nobleman who championed Rioja wine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The range is built on Tempranillo and Garnacha grown at altitude on low-fertility soils, with a well-equipped 2000-built facility designed for both controlled fermentation and oak barrel ageing. Crianza is the cooperative's most visible bottle.
Place
Autol sits in Rioja Oriental, the easternmost and warmest of DOCa Rioja's three subzones. The climate is drier and more continental here than in Rioja Alta or Rioja Alavesa, with more Mediterranean influence and less rainfall. That warmth would ordinarily push ripeness fast, but the cooperative's vineyards climb to between 500 and 750 metres above sea level, where altitude moderates temperatures and extends the growing season. Grapes picked here retain more natural acidity than they would on lowland Rioja Oriental plots, and the range runs from everyday reds through to oak-aged whites.
The DOCa Rioja label on the bottle places this wine within one of Spain's most recognisable appellations. Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva are the legal ageing tiers that define how long a Rioja red spends in oak and bottle before release. Marqués de Reinosa works within that framework, with the Crianza as its entry point into the classification.
Soil And Site
The soils across the cooperative's vineyards are tertiary conglomerate: light, loamy, and low in both organic matter and fertility. Conglomerate soils drain freely and force vine roots to work hard, which keeps yields moderate. Low organic matter means the vine draws little nutrient from the topsoil, concentrating energy into the fruit. The vineyards sit between 500 and 750 metres above sea level.
Story
In 1956, Autol's wine growers were selling most of their harvest in bulk, passing it to merchants who would age and bottle it elsewhere under their own names. The cooperative formation changed that. By combining their vineyards and resources, the growers of Autol built toward a future where they controlled fermentation, ageing, and the label on the bottle.
For several decades the cooperative operated under its original name. The commercial rebranding to Marqués de Reinosa connected the label to Joaquín Garralda y Oñate, a figure who had worked to raise the profile of Rioja wine long before the cooperative existed. That decision anchored the cooperative's connection to a longer regional history while pointing forward: by 2000, the original facilities had been replaced by a purpose-built winery in Autol, scaled to handle the cooperative's full output with controlled fermentation from tank to barrel.
Vineyards And Cellar
The grape mix is 60% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacha, with Mazuelo, Graciano, Viura, and Verdejo making up the remainder. Tempranillo provides the red fruit core and ageing backbone. Garnacha adds body and warmth. Mazuelo and Graciano contribute depth of colour and a firmer tannin edge in red blends. Viura and Verdejo support the white wine range.
Tempranillo Blanco is a natural mutation of Tempranillo, first identified in Rioja in the 1980s and approved for the DOCa in 2009. It carries higher natural acidity and more aromatic lift than the red Tempranillo, and the cooperative ages its version on lees in French oak, adding texture and complexity alongside the variety's characteristic freshness.
The 2000 winery holds 107 stainless steel fermentation tanks, which allow individual parcel or variety lots to be fermented and macerated separately. Two barrel rooms hold 5,000 oak barrels. The combination of tank scale and barrel capacity means the cooperative can manage a range that runs from early-drinking reds through to properly aged Crianza and Reserva expressions without blending lots prematurely.
Wines
The Crianza is the cooperative's core red. Tempranillo leads the blend. After thirteen months in oak, the wine comes out medium-bodied, with a clean red fruit character, soft tannin, a spice note on the mid-palate, and enough length on the finish to reward holding a few years after release. It follows the classical Rioja Crianza template: accessible without being thin, with the oak integrated rather than dominant.
Tempranillo Blanco is the cooperative's most distinctive white wine direction. Aged on lees in French oak, it develops a broader texture than the grape would show in a neutral vessel, with aromatic intensity and a lively acid line through the finish. A 2024 release has been produced.
Viura and Verdejo support additional white wine bottlings, though these sit outside the cooperative's primary range focus.
In The Glass
The Crianza opens with ripe red cherry, dried strawberry, and a faint dusty note from the oak ageing. In the mouth, the tannins are soft and rounded, the body sits in the medium range, and a warm spice thread, cinnamon and dried red pepper, runs through the mid-palate. The acidity is moderate, giving enough freshness to keep the fruit alive without sharpness. The finish extends with that spice note and a mild vanilla trace from the time in barrel.
The Tempranillo Blanco reads differently from the moment it hits the glass: white stone fruit, pear skin, a light citrus edge, and a creamier texture from the lees contact. The French oak adds body rather than flavour, and the wine finishes with enough acid lift to balance the weight. It is a fresher, more aromatic style than most Rioja whites.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Crianza. It is Tempranillo-led, aged thirteen months in oak, and priced as an everyday bottle that still carries the full Rioja Crianza classification. Red cherry and dried berry open it. Soft tannin and a warm spice note carry through the mid-palate. The finish is longer than the price suggests.
Anecdote
In 2024, Bodegas Marqués de Reinosa released a Tempranillo Blanco fermented for 15 to 16 days in French oak barrels and then matured on fine lees.
Final Word
Marqués de Reinosa is Rioja Oriental in a direct form: elevated, sun-exposed vineyards on infertile soils, a modern cooperative facility built for controlled ageing at scale, and a Crianza that delivers classical red fruit and spice at an accessible price. The Tempranillo Blanco points to where the cooperative is experimenting. The Crianza is where it is most itself.