To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Contino’s first wine in 1974, Victor Urrutia, 5th generation family member and CEO of the C.V.N.E. group which includes Vinedos del Contino, decided that he wanted to create something unique. He has certainly achieved his goal with not only a first-of-its-kind for Rioja, but also with remarkable critical acclaim for an inaugural release. Victor’s ground breaking idea was to facilitate the coming together of two formidable winemaking dynasties, bringing the knowledge and experience from a separate and hugely admired wine region. He wanted to create a wine that embodied the Contino philosophy as Rioja’s first Chateau concept winery, producing a wine from only from the vines surrounding property, combined with the elegant winemaking style of one of Bordeaux’s most lauded winemaking families. Guillaume Thienpont (4th generation winemaker co-owner of a renowned Pomerol chateau) worked tirelessly with Jorge Navascués and Irene Bonilla (Contino’s winemaker and head of viticulture) to create this limited-production, single estate Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa.