WINERY

Located on the banks of the Ebro river, Bodegas Franco-Españolas is the only centenary winery in the center of Logroño, just 5 minutes walk from the historic quarter of the city and the famous Calle del Laurel.

Visiting Bodegas Franco Españolas is discovering one of the great wineries in Rioja, where respect for tradition is combined with technological innovation, to achieve the great wines, Bordón and Diamante, which endorse our trajectory since 1890.

Bodegas Franco-Españolas was founded in 1890 as a partnership between France and Spain at a high point in Rioja, when the French came to the region in an attempt to replace their vineyards devastated by the phylloxera blight. It was the start of the “fine wines of Rioja”.

As a result, Frederick Anglade Saurat, from Bordeaux, founded Bodegas Franco-Españolas in 1890. The first harvest, a year later, will result in the iconic wines of Diamante and Estilo Borgoña, which was renamed Rioja Bordón in the 1950s, and redesigned as Bordón in 2017.

The French sold their shares in 1920, 15 years after the death of Anglade, and the winery became completely Spanish. King Alfonso XIII visited the winery in 1903 and in 1925 and Ernest Hemingway did so in 1956.

The end of Prohibition in the USA in 1933 and the resurgence of the Control Board of Rioja in 1953 provided a boost to Rioja wine exports. Franco-Españolas now has a presence in many major European cities, as well as in Caracas, Buenos Aires, Havana and New York. The harvest of 1964 was an excellent one, perhaps the best of the century.

Its privileged location, on the banks of the Ebro River, has made Bodegas Franco-Españolas a witness to the history of Logroño. This family winery, in the hands of the Eguizábal Family since 1984, has developed an innovative and quality wine tourism proposal, a benchmark in the DOCa Rioja and awarded the Best of Wine Tourism.  Guided tours and traditional tastings, visits with pairing menu, harvest with children, wine pairing activities ans a complete cultural agenda of recognized prestige, complete its offer.