"Bodega Nueva"
The part of the bodega built after the underground cellar – itself built between 1890 and 1892 – is known as “the new cellar”.
A large subterranean well was drained and sealed with a concrete cover, and supported by concrete pillars. The cellar was built between 1904 and 1907 by the firm Construcciones Hidraulicas y Civiles, directed by Eugenio Ribera Duaste, in collaboration with the engineer Julio Martínez Zapata. These same constructors had built the Puente Monumental over the Urumea River in San Sebastian with a close personal friend of the López de Heredía Landeta family, Mariano Benlliure, who introduced Duaste and Zapata to the family.
The concrete cover for the “new cellar” was in fact one of the first private constructions to use reinforced concrete in Spain, and the new cellar was also one of the first places in Spain to use concrete brace beams (1902).
"La Bodega Nueva" was one of the first building works undertaken in Spain which used hand-laid concrete (1904).
"La Bodega Nueva" was one of the first works
undertaken in Spain with the use of hand-laid concrete (1904)
Crianza (Ageing) Cellar
The exterior façade, built at a higher level, was originally designed by Julio Martínez Zapata, but never completed. In 1941, the idea of the façade was again taken up by the architect Francisco Arzadun, and finally concluded by José Antonio Pérez in time for the bodega’s centenary in 1977. In its day, the design of this façade served as the logo of our Rioja Alta brand, which was taken off the market in 1920.