Baigorri - The Winery a Hobbit Would Love

Baigorri - The Winery a Hobbit Would Love
March 10, 2015

We awoke today and enjoyed the breakfast at our hotel.  Jose Luis was going skiing and we were going to Baigorri - a winery that is about a 5 minute drive from the Abalos.  We had called ahead to make reservations to ensure that we could get in here.  The winery is a medium sized one, that has about 500,000 bottles a year, with a potential for 650,000 if all things go well.

Bodegas Baigorri from the road

Entrance of Baigorri

Driving by, you wouldn't even notice that there is a winery from the road.  There is a glass box that sits on what appears to be just a small hill from the road, with their bodega's name - Baigorri.  Originally a small winery, it was purchased by a group of investors, and mainly two friends who were interested in making a wine that was high quality, but not large in production.  They researched the area for six years looking at bodegas and methods for producing their wines.  They decided that they would create a winery where only gravity helps the grapes achieve the perfect wine.  No crushing is involved.

Built into the side of a mountain and designed by Iñaki Aspiazu, the mostly poured concrete interior uses stainless steel tanks and a combination of lifts and lateral movements, they move the grapes around the inside of the mountain.  Basically the grapes are received at the top of the mountainside - just behind the glass cube.  The grapes are selected by hand and then cleaned as they go through a couple of machines where the stems are removed and then blown dry to remove any impurities such as leaves and dirt or water.  Then, they are lowered into a large stainless steel bin directly below the sorting area.  These stainless steel containers are then circulated as they fill within that level.  Once the containers are filled, the fermentation begins.  In order to continue the process without pumps, there are smaller stainless steel containers draw off the juices from below and then are lifted by cranes to the top of the larger stainless steel containers to circulate the juice.  This breaks up the skins and the "cap" that forms at the top. This is done every 8 hours during the first month or so of the process.  Once the juice has been fermented and processed, they are then moved to the lower levels to both stainless steel tanks and oak tanks depending upon the grape and the wine being made.  Once they have aged in the appropriate tanks, they are then drawn down into the barrels down on the lower levels to store them for the appropriate time or introduced into the bottles where they are then stored away.  By not using pumps in their process, Baigorri believes that their wine has been treated the easiest and will be reflected in the quality and taste.

Being inside a mountain without any windows, you would think it is claustrophobic, but it isn't.  A lot of the design was to keep it very open and even the elevators and ramps are very wide and allow for people to move about freely.  Once you have reached the bottom level, you will move across the large floor space with the fermentation barrels, some Oak and some Stainless steel, and then reach the large sliding door that opens like a curtain.  But behind this curtain you will find a catwalk that leads you over thousands of barrels of wine that are stored below and ahead of you is a blinding light of the glass enclosed restaurant on the other side where the tastings are done.  You can either have a three course meal that is typical of the Basque Region.  Also, you can see the fields of grapes that cascade around the hills around you.

If you go, you should try the meal.  It is of the highest quality and the wine is paired to go with their food.  It isn't cheap, but you will be treated to multiple styles of their wine.  The service is impeccable and the white tablecloth treatment can be as stoic or as friendly as you desire.  There were executive business types and also small family gatherings when we were there.  Also, you probably won't be buying much for dinner that evening after having lunched here.

View of Ysios (wavey building in the back left) from top
of the wine village of LaGuradia.

We returned back to our hotel after driving around and enjoying the scenery.  There are so many large mountainsides here and the architecture that is both cutting edge like Frank Gehry's and bodegas that have both side-by-side styling from the last 3 centuries right next to each other.

We did spend some time in LaGuardia.  The hill town is an ant hill filled with underground cellars for wines and has been that way for hundreds of years.  A must visit if you are in the area.