History and philosophy
Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta in the cellars
It all started in the middle of the nineteenth century when the French negociants visited the Rioja region to find a solution to the Phylloxera blight, which was bedevilling their vineyards. Following, closely in their footsteps came our founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic student of the art of wine making.
He fell in love with the region and specially the area around Haro, the mythical capital of the Rioja Alta Region. There he perceived that magical combination of soil and climate that would offer the perfect environment for producing the wine that would eventually become world famous. Around 1877 he began the design and construction of the complex that is today known as the López de Heredia winery, the oldest in Haro and one of the first three houses in the Rioja region.
For over a century our emotions have been rooted in love and passion for this land and its harvest. We have cherished our heritage and this combination of love and rigorous standards of quality has become our trademark and remains our maxim for today and the future.
After a century of wine making, López de Heredia stands as out as one of the few family run bodegas regulated by the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja.
Tradition and conviction
For us Tradition and Conviction are life-long atitudes. Our
wine-making process is a family know-how transmited through the generations.
It is present in our everyday work, rooted in tradition and based on our
deep conviction of the validity and modernity of our methods. We mention tradition,
not as an idea meaning inmobility, oposition to change, but as a dynamic and
aestecic concept in mantaining principles and critera that remain eternal. However,
we are perfectly aware of the rhythm of change. Thats why, our openess to change,
flexibility, our non conformism and self criticism are the elements that allow
us to face the future. The heritage from our ancestors is what makes our idiosincracies,
into both positives qualities and attitudes.
Our current and future promises can be encapsulated in two ideas that have
always epitomised López de Heredia:
- Profesionalism, as artisan winemakers, offering the consumer a distintive product of supreme quality.
- Ethic, promoting the happiness of all those who work within our House; contributing to the happiness of our friends and customers; and giving to Society the best of our hopes and dreams.