One cannot talk about the Eguren group without taking about Guillermo Eguren, its patriarch and founder, about his sons Marcos and Miguel Ángel and about Jesús, his son-in-law, the current managers. It entails making reference to four generations of vine growers and discussing essentially Rioja, but also Toro, without forgetting to mention Manchuela. However, it also involves talking about a group of bodegas that exports 50 percent of its production to more than 40 countries. And it should be remembered that its ‘Termanthia 2004’ was one of the five Spanish wines that won, for the first time in history last March, 100 points from ‘The Wine Advocate’, the publication edited by US guru Robert Parker.

During the eighties, after the separation of the family business, Guillermo Eguren, together with his sons, Marcos and Miguel, and his son-in-law, Jesús, started their own solo venture. Four generations associated with vineyards and wine gave them the backing they sought. Until then Guillermo had made young carbonic maceration reds, using grapes from his own vineyards under QDO Rioja, in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, in the style of the region and the times. However, it was his sons who were to be the driving force behind the initiation, the consolidation and the diversification of this group of bodegas.

The adventure started in Sierra Cantabria, the name of the bodega the family owns in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, a municipality located in the Rioja Alta, between the river Ebro and the mountains. Marcos was in charge of oenology, Miguel, management and Jesús, sales. Meanwhile, Guillermo continued to develop his instinct for choosing the best vineyards.

It was then that the Eguren family started to look at the old vines with more of an open mind, advocating new winemaking methods. This is how the first crianza reds came into being. Labels such as: ‘Murmurón’, ‘Sierra Cantabria’, ‘Sierra Cantabria Organza’, ‘Sierra Cantabria Colección Privada’, ‘Finca El Bosque’ and ‘Amancio’, a homage to a grandfather, were made at this bodega, the Egurens’ head-office, with a total of 100 hectares and vines of between 1 and 70 years of age, the majority of which are over 25 years old.