Bodegas Roda

Bodegas Roda was founded in 1987. The winery's own history says that in the late 1980s the Rotllant Daurella family arrived in La Rioja with the intention of creating a project that would bring something new to winemaking. Decanter's Stephen Brook wrote in 2020 that the founders settled on the Rioja Alta region. Bodegas RODA S.A. is also listed as owner on the team pages of two sister brands: Bodegas La Horra, a Ribera del Duero winery founded in 2009 that makes CORIMBO, CORIMBO I and CORIMBO Rosado, whose team page lists Bodegas RODA S.A. under Owners alongside Pedro Balbás and Pablo Balbás; and Aubocassa, a 12th-century estate in Manacor, Mallorca, that makes the AUBOCASSA and L'AMO extra virgin olive oils, whose team page lists Bodegas RODA S.A. as the company and Mario Rotllant Solá as owner of Agrícola Aubocasser. The bodega stands on the edge of the Ebro in a balcony of Haro's Railway Station District (Barrio de la Estación), over a 19th-century calado that growers once used to store harvests later sent to Bordeaux by train to mitigate the damage caused by phylloxera. The facilities grew in four phases, in 1991, 1996, 2000 and 2018; the 2018 phase aimed at energy efficiency and renewable energy. The winery includes a bioclimatic room and two aging rooms bored directly into the rock. Decanter reported that the winery in Haro was not completed until 2001, and that by then Roda had gained its reputation as one of the top producers in the region. Bodegas Roda S.A. has had a research, development and innovation policy since 1998; its projects include a seedbank study with the Universities of La Rioja and Salamanca (2000 to 2003) on the phenolic profile of Tempranillo and Graciano, and IBEROGEN (2018 to 2021), a Spain and Argentina project led by Bodegas Roda on Tempranillo and Malbec that works with Roda's own collection of clones from its germplasm bank.

• Founded 1987; the Rotllant Daurella family arrived in La Rioja in the late 1980s
• Bodegas RODA S.A. is the owner listed on the team pages of sister brands Bodegas La Horra (Ribera del Duero, founded 2009) and Aubocassa (Mallorca olive oil estate)
• Located over a 19th-century calado in Haro's Barrio de la Estación, on the edge of the Ebro
• Facilities built in four phases: 1991, 1996, 2000 and 2018
• A bioclimatic room and two aging rooms bored directly into the rock
• Member of the Barrio de la Estación Association with Bodegas Bilbaínas, CVNE, Muga, Bodegas Gómez Cruzado and La Rioja Alta, S.A.
• Holds the Sustainable Wineries for Climate Protection certification developed by the Spanish Wine Federation (FEV)
• Research, development and innovation policy since 1998, including the IBEROGEN project (2018 to 2021) led by Bodegas Roda

As of September 2026, the winery's team page lists Mario Rotllant Solá as President, Agustín Santolaya Santolaya as Managing Director, Isidro Palacios Negueruela as Technical Director of Viticulture, Esperanza Tomás Pérez as Technical Director, and Noemí Castroviejo Daroca as Financial Director. The team page of sister brand Aubocassa describes Mario Rotllant Solá as co-owner of Bodegas Roda. Decanter's Stephen Brook wrote in 2020 that Rotllant deliberately assembled a viticultural and winemaking team with extensive experience outside Rioja and very little within it.

• Mario Rotllant Solá: President (as of September 2026); described as co-owner of Bodegas Roda on sister brand Aubocassa's team page
• Agustín Santolaya Santolaya: Managing Director (as of September 2026)
• Isidro Palacios Negueruela: Technical Director of Viticulture (as of September 2026)
• Esperanza Tomás Pérez: Technical Director (as of September 2026)

Roda cultivates 120 hectares of vineyard: 70 are self-owned and the remaining 50 come from local growers under different agreements. They are distributed across different ecosystems at altitudes from 380 m to 650 m above sea level. The winery places its vineyards where the Cantabria and Ibérica ranges merge in the Obarenes Mountains, a barrier cleaved only by the Ebro, with Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental climates at play. Roda controls around 20 vine parcels, and each year only the best of them are vinified. RODA comes from bush vines over 30 years old in Haro and its bordering villages, with yields limited to 1.5 kg per vine; Bodegas Roda SELA comes from bush vines averaging 15 to 30 years of age. Decanter reported in 2020 that the vineyards are dry-farmed. The Perdigón site lies beside the Ebro on a gentle rise at the entrance to the Tondón meander, with vines rooted in sands and marls. RODA I Blanco comes from the upper, eroded parts of the slopes, on alternating sandstone and limestone marl, and its plant material was collected from the El Estepal germplasm bank, which houses more than 300 morphotypes of old Viuras from Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa.

• 120 hectares cultivated: 70 self-owned, 50 from local growers under agreements
• Altitudes from 380 m to 650 m, where the Cantabria and Ibérica ranges merge in the Obarenes Mountains
• Around 20 vine parcels; each year only the best are vinified
• El Estepal germplasm bank: more than 300 morphotypes of old Viuras from Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa

Bodegas Roda produces six D.O.Ca. Rioja wines. Bodegas Roda SELA, the youngest wine, is 100% Tempranillo aged 12 months in second-use French oak barrels. RODA represents the red-fruit ripening profile of Tempranillo and was called RODA II before the 2002 vintage; the 2022 is 91% Tempranillo, 2% Graciano and 7% Garnacha, aged 14 months in 40% new and 60% second-use French oak barrels and 20 months in bottle. RODA I is blended from parcels that ripened in a black-fruit profile; the 2020 is 92% Tempranillo and 8% Graciano, aged 16 months in 50% new and 50% second-use French oak barrels and 20 months in bottle. The site's vintage lists for RODA and RODA I both begin with 1992, and a vineyard can go into RODA I one year and RODA the next. CIRSION began in 1995, when Roda found vines whose grapes tasted very different from those around them; two years later it made a first CIRSION that was not commercialized, and the site's vintage list begins with 1998. CIRSION is a selection of some plants from the oldest vineyards; the 2022 is 86% Tempranillo and 14% Graciano, aged 8 months in 100% new French oak barrels. RODA I Blanco, the first white wine from Bodegas Roda, is mainly Viura with a small part of Malvasía de Rioja and Garnacha Blanca, aged 18 months in French oak bocoys and 18 months in bottle; the 2022 is its fourth vintage. Rosado Reserva Perdigón, Roda's first rosé, is Tempranillo and Garnacha from the Perdigón site and some neighbouring vineyards, fermented on fine lees in second-use French oak barrels, where it stays 15 months. Decanter named the Roda I Reserva 1994 (83% Tempranillo, 17% Garnacha) a Wine Legend in 2020.

• Bodegas Roda SELA: 100% Tempranillo; 12 months in second-use French oak barrels
• RODA (2022): 91% Tempranillo, 2% Graciano, 7% Garnacha; 14 months in barrel and 20 months in bottle
• RODA I (2020): 92% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano; 16 months in 50% new and 50% second-use French oak and 20 months in bottle
• CIRSION (2022): 86% Tempranillo, 14% Graciano; 8 months in 100% new French oak barrels

Roda's processes page describes the RODA blend as red fruit wines "with sweet spices and a festive freshness", and the RODA I blend as black fruit wines "with mineral, chocolate and black plum notes" that in the mouth are "fruity, voluminous, complex, enveloping and long, with melted tannins and a fresh sensation." Roda says CIRSION's grapes gave a sensation of fullness and volume, and that with a short aging the wine reached "a level of incredible silkiness." Decanter's Stephen Brook called the red-fruit and black-fruit split a stylistic choice by the winery, with the goal of creating two different interpretations of Rioja, and wrote that Roda releases cuvées based on style rather than location. In the cellar, Roda says wines from other vintages are never used to modify or refresh the present vintage, and it does not buy wines from other wineries. Grapes from different vineyards are vatted separately in French oak vats, 17 in the classic warehouse and 18 in the modern one, renewed every ten years, and as a rule fermentation proceeds without seeding, with the native flora. Malolactic fermentation takes place in 225-liter barrels, and a north-facing window lets in winter air to stabilize the wines naturally at around 6ºC. Barrel aging usually runs 12 to 16 months in three aging cellars, including El Calado, a 19th-century tunnel at a depth of 12 meters. The technical sheets list clarification with lyophilized egg white.

• Roda on RODA: red fruit wines "with sweet spices and a festive freshness"
• Roda on RODA I: black fruit wines "with mineral, chocolate and black plum notes"
• Wines from other vintages are never used to modify or refresh the present vintage
• Native-flora fermentation in French oak vats; malolactic in 225-liter barrels; aging 100% in French oak

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://roda.es/en/, https://roda.es/en/bodegas-roda/about-roda, https://roda.es/en/bodegas-roda/our-team, https://roda.es/en/bodegas-roda/processes, https://roda.es/en/bodegas-roda/vineyard, https://roda.es/en/our-wines/sela, https://roda.es/en/our-wines/roda, https://roda.es/en/our-wines/roda-i, https://roda.es/en/our-wines/cirsion, https://roda.es/en/our-wines/roda-i-blanco, https://roda.es/en/rd-projects, https://roda.es/es/vinos/perdigon-rosado-reserva. Sister-brand sites (R10, linked from roda.es): https://bodegaslahorra.es/en/winery/our-team, https://www.aubocassa.com/en/aubocassa/team. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-legend-bodegas-roda-i-reserva-1994-430949/ (Decanter, Stephen Brook, 8 February 2020), https://riojawine.com/en-us/bodegas-rioja/bodegas-roda/ (Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-09-24