bodegas carlos san pedro perez de vinaspre

I very much enjoyed this tour of a small bodegas which is 1 of only 4 wineries still aging their wine in the caves under the medieval walled town of LaGuardia. The tour was only 4E and unlike other bodegas, as a solo traveller I didn't need to book in advance. The son of the owner conducted the tour and was very pleasant and knowledgeable.

This was a fascinating experience. The wine cave was a great experience, the wine was lovely too. It's much more enjoyable when the tour is conducted by the people who actually own & run the winery.

I was staying in Vitoria which is so close to the Rioja wine region that I expected there would be winery coach tours but there aren't. The best I could do was catch a local bus to a place called Laguardia. It was over an hour's journey past vineyards and Bodegas. Laguardia turned out to be a tiny mediaeval gem.The ground beneath the buildings and streets are riddled with caves originally for protection during wars but later they became micro wineries. The Tourist Office directed me to the winery, Bodegas Carlo San Pedro Perez de Vinaspre, where I was given a fascinating tour of their winemaking operation which takes place 8 metres below street level! It turned out to be a tour for one and in excellent English. I tasted 3 different qualities. The first was out of the tank after it had been in the barrel. That was fairly undrinkable as it needed to go into a bottle for a couple of years. The next was Crianza that had been stored in an American oak barrel and then in a bottle and was fairly young and the last was Reserva which had been in a French oak barrel and then in a bottle for four years. The location was so atmospheric it was like stepping back in time.

If you visit only one bodega (winery) in LaGuardia or the surrounding area, this is it! To see how the wine is fermented and stored as it was done 500 years ago is amazing. Try to make reservations (call or email) ahead of time, Carlos, the son and a winemaker himself, speaks excellent English. The wine we got to taste directly from the concrete vat was so good...even though Carlos kept insisting it was not ready yet...I can't imagine how much better that wine can get! This was the highlight of our time in LaGuardia.

This is a very small winery who demonstrate production in the caves below Laguardia. Very cramped but we were made very welcome. After a short video we went into the caves, had production explained and then had a wine tasting. The temperature in the caves is too cold to appreciate a good red wine.

This was a charming, family run winery inside the walled city of Laguardia. It demonstrated an older style of making wine, that was a nice contrast to some of the more modern operations. Our tour guide spoke excellent English and was totally delightful. The tasting portions were generous and quite tasty. Highly recommended!

My sister and I visited this Bodega during Semana Santa 2014 and it exceeded our expectations! Laguardia is a beautiful little town and having the opportunity to explore the caves below the city was something I'll never forget. We were the only people on the English tour so it felt like a private tour and the owner made us feel right at home. We learned so much about the process of making wine and we got to sample 3 different wines and spent about an hour in the bodega for only 9 euro. If I ever go back to Laguardia, I will definitely come here again. Authentic experience! :)

we happened upon this bodega when visiting the walled town of laguardia spain. our guide was the son of the owner, and their family had produced wine for over 500 years. the wine is kept, underground in caves, of which there are many caves under all the streets of the town. we had a tasting of the wines they produce, all were very good.

A traditional winery with underground caves in Laguardia. Carlos our host and tour leader was informative and spoke English well. It was fun going down into the caves and sampling the wines there. I purchased a bottle of their orujo (grappa), which I can recommend. Be sure to book on-line in advance if you can (and this way you can select the language of your tour). Due to unforeseen problems with our rental car, we showed up without a reservation but were nicely accommodated.We also recommend seeing another, more modern winery such as Ysios just outside Laguardia, just to get a different perspective on winemaking.

We came across this short tour in the heart of the beautiful town of Laguardia, and although it was relatively short it was extremely informative. The tour introduced us to two methods of wine production, and we felt that having had the tour, any further tours to other bodegas were unnecessary, unless the idea of a tour of a Bodega was simply to taste more and more wines, which one can do in the comforts of your own home. We have been to other bodegas near Jerez, but truth be known all you really see are lots of large barrels and perhaps the history the individual bodega that you are visiting.

Cool wine storage under town.Must see. Carlos our host was very informative and spoke good english. Under Laguardia are man made caves. First used for storage and protect in the 1400s they were converted to wine caves in the 1700 and 1800s. They were used for wine making and make excellent cellars. The modern technology is taking over so these are fading out but you can visit this cave and see how the wine is made and taste it. The basic tour (4 euro) allows you to taste a wine direct from the wine tanks before bottling so it is a work in progress. Go for a 2 or 3 wine option so you can see the change. (7 & 9 euro).Great experience and well worth the time and effort as it is truly unique.

Thanks for your opinion about our Bodega. We will try to work on the problems that you mentioned on the shop and the video. If you read some of the past comments about us, they already mentioned the idea to taste more wines and that's the reason why now we offer the option to taste more different ones.Thanks again for your opinion and we are working hard to improve and solve the problems that our visitors mention to us.Best regards,Carlos Sampedro.

We went at short notice as we discovered they were doing a tour in English - the other visitors were American and Dutch. It was advertised at 4euros but this was to just taste 1 wine, it was 7E to taste 2 wines. The first sample was taken directly from a large concrete storage tank, the second sample was a from a bottle of an older wine. It was interesting to go underground to see where the wine is stored but it is now made elsewhere in a more modern winery. It was interesting to go to a small family-run winery as a contrast to the big 'corporate' wineries.

An interesting tour of the old caves and traditional wine making techniques finished off with a tasting from the large tank.

What a neat experiece visiting this bodega located within the walls of Laguardia. The English-language tour was very informative, and you can just feel the history when you go to the cave to see how the wine is made. I highly recommend visiting this Bodega - it offers such a neat contrast to the larger, more modern wineries around Rioja!