Contino (Viñedos del Contino)

Contino, the first château in Rioja by the winery's own description, was founded in 1973 by the century-old CVNE winery and the owners of the estate in Rioja Alavesa. CVNE's history page records that Viñedos del Contino was created by CVNE and the family owners of Contino as the first single vineyard established in Rioja, and the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja likewise describes it as founded in 1973 by CVNE and the family that owns the estate, creating the first "Chateau" winery in La Rioja. Decanter reports that the late José Madrazo Real de Asúa, who had become general manager of CVNE, founded Viñedos del Contino in 1973 with other leading CVNE figures; he was general manager until 1999 and retired completely in 2001. The website's legal notice names the company as Viñedos del Contino, S.A., with its registered office at Finca San Rafael, Laserna, Laguardia (Álava). CVNE's own site lists Viñedos del Contino among the eight wineries of its group. The name comes from the estate's history: the officer in charge of the one hundred soldiers who guarded the royal family continuously, or "de contino", from the era of the Catholic Monarchs onwards, was known as the "contino". Saint Gregory, patron saint of vineyards, is said to have passed through the estate, which is why his figure appears on the winery's logo and some vineyard plots bear his name.

• Founded 1973 by CVNE and the estate's owners (winery site, CVNE history page, Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja)
• Operating company: Viñedos del Contino, S.A., Finca San Rafael, Laserna, Laguardia (Álava)
• CVNE's own site lists Viñedos del Contino among the eight wineries of its group
• Saint Gregory appears on the logo; some plots bear his name

As of 23 September 2026, the winery's site states that its team is led by winemaker Jorge Navascués and by Irene Bonilla in the field. A January 2025 announcement on the site identifies Irene Bonilla as vineyard manager. Decanter's CVNE producer profile, last updated August 2019, named Jesús Madrazo as Contino's winemaker at that time, and Decanter's report on José Madrazo identifies Jesús de Madrazo as his son.

• Jorge Navascués: winemaker (winery site, September 2026)
• Irene Bonilla: vineyard manager (winery site, January 2025)
• Jesús Madrazo: winemaker as named by Decanter in 2019

The San Rafael estate vineyard lies in Laserna in a meander of the Ebro River and surrounds a 200-year-old manor house with some of the oldest wine cellars in La Rioja, dating back to the 16th century. The winery's vineyard page gives 55 hectares of vineyards in Laserna, Laguardia, protected by the hillside Cerro de la Mesa, while the wine data sheets and CVNE's Contino page give 62 hectares. The vineyards descend gently towards the Ebro over three terraces at an altitude of between 420 and 400 metres, with calcareous sandy soil in the deepest layers and calcareous clayey soil in the middle and upper layers, where pebbles typical of alluvial terrain are abundant. The vines are on average 22 years old, with some over 60 years old. Tempranillo predominates, followed by Graciano, Mazuelo, Garnacha and Viura. The site lists nine plots: Ribera Viconsa, Juanrona, Olivo, San Gregorio Grande, Triángulo, Don Vicente, Frontón, San Gregorio Encina and Tabla Laserna. The grapes from each plot are harvested and processed separately, and the wines are made using grapes exclusively grown in the vineyards surrounding the old manor house. In the winery, a manual selection table and small-capacity tanks designed for different plots and grape varieties allow a single plot's production to be fermented on its own; the winery is equipped with stainless steel tanks, six concrete tanks and four French oak vats, loaded by gravity directly from the manual grape selection table, and the 16th-century cellars keep the wines for ageing at constant temperature and humidity.

• Largest plots: San Gregorio Encina 9.98 ha, San Gregorio Grande 9.73 ha, Don Vicente 7.94 ha, Frontón 7.91 ha, Olivo 7.56 ha
• Smaller plots: Ribera Viconsa 5.42 ha, Tabla Laserna 3.34 ha, Juanrona 1.85 ha, Triángulo 1.25 ha
• Ribera Viconsa and Juanrona sit on fertile sandy soils in the Ebro meander; the other plots are calcareous clay from old Ebro terraces
• Winery: stainless steel tanks, six concrete tanks and four French oak vats, gravity-loaded

The winery lists Contino Blanco San Gregorio, Contino Rosado, Contino Reserva, Contino Gran Reserva, Contino Garnacha San Rafael, Contino Graciano, Contino Viña del Olivo and Contino Mazuelo, along with Chorus. Contino Reserva (2020 data sheet: 86% Tempranillo, 6% Graciano, 6% Mazuelo, 2% Garnacha) ferments spontaneously in 12,000 litre stainless steel vats and ages 18 months in oak barrels, 20% American and 80% French. Contino Gran Reserva (2017: 82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo, 3% Garnacha) ferments in untreated concrete vats and spends three years in used barrels, 30% American and 70% French, then another two years in bottle in the underground cellars. Viña del Olivo (2022: 69% Tempranillo, 23% Graciano, 8% Mazuelo) comes from the Olivo plot, which the winery describes as one of the few calcareous clay sites at Contino, with a very high content of active limestone, a 5 to 7% south-facing slope, dry land, no herbicides and organic fertilisation; it ferments in 100-hectolitre French oak vats and ages 16 months before three months in wooden vats. Contino Graciano is 100% Graciano from the San Gregorio Grande plot, which its wine page gives as 3.7 ha planted in 1979 and 1989. Contino Mazuelo, also called Contino Mazuelo Don Vicente, is 100% Mazuelo from the Don Vicente plot, aged 16 months in French oak barrels, 80% new. Contino Garnacha is 100% Garnacha, aged in a 2000 litre Stockinger fudre and twelve 500 litre barrels, then five months in a concrete vat. Contino Rosado (2021: 60% Graciano, 40% Garnacha) is made by the saignée method and spends nine months in barrel. Contino Blanco (2020: 80% Viura, 20% Garnacha Blanca) is aged 30% in concrete tanks and 70% in new and second-use oak barrels of 500 and 400 litres for 10 months. Chorus (2024) is a Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa whose malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barrels from Seguin Moreau, Sylvain and Taransaud.

• Reserva: 18 months in oak, 80% French and 20% American
• Gran Reserva: three years in barrel plus two years in bottle
• Viña del Olivo: Olivo plot, calcareous clay with high active limestone
• Single-variety wines: Graciano, Garnacha, Mazuelo (Don Vicente plot)

The winery describes its wines as fruity and elegant, reflecting the finest winemaking traditions in La Rioja, and CVNE's Contino page describes them as having a fruity, modern and elegant character. In its own words, "For Contino, there is nothing more modern than a renewed classic." For the Blanco, the winery says it wants to return to the traditional Rioja whites with ageing capacity, balance and freshness, and for the Rosado it aims for a rosé with ageing capacity that has the soul of a red wine. Decanter's 2019 CVNE profile said winemaker Jesús Madrazo was fashioning some of Rioja's most thrilling wines at Contino, including the Olivo and a 100% Graciano.

• Winery: fruity and elegant wines in the Rioja tradition
• Blanco: traditional Rioja white with ageing capacity, balance and freshness
• Rosado: a rosé with ageing capacity and the soul of a red wine

In a January 2025 announcement, the winery described vineyard initiatives including the creation of biological corridors with diverse plant species, insect hotels, nesting boxes for bats and small birds, soil moisture sensors and a weather station.

• Biological corridors, insect hotels, and nesting boxes for bats and small birds (winery, January 2025)

Primary sources (producer's own site, contino.es, and the owner group's site, cvne.com, under R10): https://contino.es/en/, https://contino.es/en/winery/, https://contino.es/en/our-vineyard/, https://contino.es/en/wines/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-reserva/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-gran-reserva/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-vina-del-olivo/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-graciano/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-garnacha/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-mazuelo/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-rose/, https://contino.es/en/wines/contino-white/, https://contino.es/en/noticias/vinedos-del-contino-becomes-the-first-spanish-winery-to-certify-residue-free-grapes-from-its-estate/, https://contino.es/en/wines/chorus/, https://contino.es/en/legal-notice/, https://cvne.com/en/wineries/vinedos-del-contino/, https://cvne.com/en/history/, https://cvne.com/en/family/. Secondary sources: https://riojawine.com/en-us/bodegas-rioja/vinedos-del-contino/, https://www.decanter.com/wine/producer-profiles/producer-profile-cvne-245655/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/contino-founding-father-jose-madrazo-dies-3359/. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-09-24