Finca Allende

Miguel Ángel de Gregorio grew up around the cellars of Marqués de Murrieta, where his father held the role of cellarmaster. He learned the craft on site, climbing over the barrels under the long-tenured Murrieta winemaker Jesús Marrodán, and later studied agronomical engineering in Madrid. From 1989 to 1997 he worked at Bodegas Bretón, where he developed Loriñón, one of Rioja's early modern wines, and during those years he discovered the vineyards of Briones, a hilltop village in Rioja Alta with deep viticultural history. In 1995 he and his sister Mercedes founded Finca Allende, taking over the Palace of Ibarra in Briones as the estate's headquarters and beginning the slow work of assembling small old-vine parcels. The siblings co-founded the project together, with Miguel Ángel leading on winemaking and the broader Allende brother and sister identity defining the estate's public profile.

• Miguel Ángel grew up at Marqués de Murrieta where his father was cellarmaster; trained on the floor under Jesús Marrodán
• Worked at Bodegas Bretón from 1989 to 1997, developing Loriñón; discovered the vineyards of Briones during these years
• Founded Finca Allende in 1995 with his sister Mercedes; the estate is built around the Palace of Ibarra in Briones
• Brother and sister team identity is central to the Allende project; Miguel Ángel leads on winemaking, Mercedes on broader estate operations

Aurus, first released from the 1996 vintage, is the project's classical concentrated single-vineyard statement: an 85% Tempranillo, 15% Graciano blend drawn from old vines around Briones (averaging about 60 years of age), aged in new French oak. The name comes from the Latin aurum, signaling Miguel Ángel's golden-ratio pursuit. Calvario, also first released from the 1996 vintage, is a single-vineyard wine from the Pago del Calvario plot in Briones, planted in 1945 to a Tempranillo-led field blend. The wine is 90% Tempranillo, 8% Grenache, 2% Graciano, aged 18 months in new French oak from Allier with manual racking every six months and bottling without filtration or fining. The two flagships have shaped the estate's reputation for site-driven Rioja since the late 1990s and are released only in vintages judged sufficient.

• Aurus (first vintage 1996): 85% Tempranillo, 15% Graciano from old Briones vines averaging around 60 years of age; aged in new French oak; the project's flagship concentrated statement
• Calvario (first vintage 1996): 90% Tempranillo, 8% Grenache, 2% Graciano from the Pago del Calvario plot in Briones planted in 1945
• Calvario aged 18 months in new French oak Allier; racked every six months; bottled unfiltered and unfined
• Both wines are released only in vintages judged sufficient and are among the most allocated bottlings in modern Rioja

Allende Tinto is the workhorse Briones red: a Tempranillo-led blend with Graciano and small additions of other varieties, designed to deliver the estate house style at a Reserva-equivalent price. Allende Blanco is a barrel-fermented Viura and Malvasía white that anchors the white program. Mártires, the estate's most allocated white, comes from a 1-hectare Viura parcel acquired in 2007 alongside a 4-hectare Tempranillo block. The Mártires plot sits on distinctive sandy clay-loam soils that differentiate it sharply from neighbouring vineyards; it is bottled as a 100% Viura, barrel-fermented and aged on lees in new French oak. Mártires has become one of Rioja's most singular whites and is released in small annual allocation. The estate also produces a varietal Graciano (introduced from the 2004 vintage) and a rosé from short-skin-contact Garnacha and Tempranillo bled off during red fermentation.

• Allende Tinto: Tempranillo-led Briones red with Graciano; the estate's workhorse Reserva-equivalent bottling
• Allende Blanco: barrel-fermented Viura and Malvasía white; the entry point to the estate's white program
• Mártires: 100% Viura from a 1-hectare parcel acquired in 2007 (alongside a 4-hectare Tempranillo block); barrel-fermented in new French oak with lees aging; one of Rioja's most allocated whites
• Graciano varietal (introduced 2004) and a rosé from short-skin-contact Garnacha and Tempranillo round out the portfolio

Finca Allende farms roughly 85 hectares under vine across Briones and adjacent parcels as of the mid-2020s, expanded over three decades from the original 56 hectares across 92 plots that represented more than a dozen distinct terroirs. The estate works without herbicides and uses organic material for fertilisation; about 10 hectares of the oldest vines are ploughed by mule, with the remainder trained either cordon royat or as traditional gobelet bush vines. Soils across the estate range from red clay with high iron content around the village to calcareous clay-loam and the sandy clay-loam that defines the Mártires parcel. In the cellar, fruit is hand-harvested in small crates, double-sorted, and vinified parcel by parcel using native yeasts. French oak dominates: Calvario sees 18 months in new Allier barrels, Aurus is built in new French oak across two seasons, and Mártires is fermented and aged in new French oak with regular bâtonnage. Wines are bottled without filtration or fining. Annual production sits around 300,000 bottles across the range.

• Roughly 85 hectares under vine in and around Briones (originally 56 hectares across 92 plots representing more than a dozen distinct terroirs); the estate has expanded by a small number of hectares annually
• No herbicides; organic material for fertilisation; about 10 hectares of oldest vines ploughed by mule; cordon royat and traditional gobelet bush-vine training
• Soils range from red clay with high iron around the village to calcareous clay-loam and the sandy clay-loam defining the Mártires parcel
• French oak across the range: Calvario 18 months new Allier, Aurus in new French oak, Mártires fermented and aged in new French oak with bâtonnage; bottled unfiltered and unfined; production around 300,000 bottles annually

Finca Allende sits in the founding cohort of the new-wave premium Rioja movement that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, alongside Bodegas Roda (founded 1987), Artadi (transformed under López de Lacalle in the early 1990s), Sierra Cantabria (Eguren family), Remírez de Ganuza, and Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez. The collective project of these producers was to demonstrate that Rioja could be vinified at single-vineyard granularity with French oak, lower yields, and a focus on site rather than aging classification, building a premium category that competes internationally with single-vineyard Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Napa. The 2017 Rioja reform's Viñedo Singular and Vino de Pueblo (Vino de Municipio) designations institutionalised at the appellation level what producers like Finca Allende had been doing parcel by parcel for over two decades. Miguel Ángel's combination of viticultural rigour, cellar discipline, and a deep working relationship with the village of Briones, paired with Mercedes's stewardship of the estate's broader identity, has kept the Allende project at the centre of premium Rioja for thirty years.

• Founding cohort of the new-wave premium Rioja movement alongside Roda (1987), Artadi (transformed early 1990s under López de Lacalle), Sierra Cantabria, Remírez de Ganuza, and Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez
• Helped demonstrate that Rioja could compete internationally with single-vineyard Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Napa via parcel-level vinification and French oak
• 2017 Rioja reform's Viñedo Singular and Vino de Pueblo designations institutionalised what Allende had been doing parcel by parcel for over two decades
• Mártires sits among Rioja's most singular whites alongside López de Heredia Tondonia Reserva Blanco, Marqués de Murrieta Capellanía, and Remelluri Blanco