Bodegas David Moreno: a fairytale story

In 1981, producer David Moreno left his managerial position at Seat in Barcelona to buy 100,000 kg of grapes to turn them into wine in the bodegas of friends and family. “I knew that I would be able to make a living and I longed for wine and my people”.

Little did David Moreno guess back then that in little more than a decade he was going to own a winery devoted to the ageing of red wines. And little did the producer imagine that the late frost in April 1999 would send the price of grapes soaring to 400 pesetas, a hefty amount of money at the time: “Overnight I found that I owed 400 million pesetas to the banks”. David Moreno packed his notebook and a calculator and retreated to the monastery of Valvanera: “I am a believer in my own way, but I wanted to do the maths and work out when I would be able to pay off our investments in the winery,” he says.

The producer decided to enter the Rotary Club’s charity tasting, which guaranteed the winner a contract to buy 10,000 cases of crianza: “I tasted the wines and, standing next to the image of the Virgin, I asked her what she thought. Obviously she didn’t reply, but one morning I was told that we had won.” David Moreno entered the following year and continued to taste in his little chapel in the bodega with the Virgin of Valvanera: “I told the Virgin that it wasn’t necessary for me to win again, but I kept asking her what she thought of the wine and we were victorious again.”

David Moreno works alongside his daughters in the family bodega. He owns some 15 hectares of vineyards, which he supplements with grapes from growers in Badarán, Cárdenas and other villages in the region. From these grapes, he obtains elegant and, above all, fresh red wines, together with the excellent claretes (made blending white and red grapes) and whites which are typical of the area. He markets two ranges, David Moreno and Monasterio de Yuso, as well as his top wines, with special mention for Vobiscum, a limited edition of almost 100-year-old vines, and Vado de la Reina, an old vine Garnacha recognised as a Viñedo Singular wine.

David Moreno is one of the most popular wineries in Rioja. Situated on the Route of the Monasteries (Cañas, Valvanera and San Millán), it was one of the first to adopt this business model. The producer has built a guardaviñas or hut, next to a Tempranillo vineyard. A privileged environment with breathtaking views of San Lorenzo, the highest peak in La Rioja. Visitors can also enjoy the range of colours in the different seasons of the year. Reddish tones in autumn, the verdant green of spring and summer, and on a snowy day, one can even see the vines covered in white.