Bodega Contador
Rioja, Spain
Throughout 2001 Benjamin Romeo reconditioned and equipped the garage at his parents’ home in San Vicente for winemaking, thereby increasing the vinification capacity over what was possible in the cave. The North American wine critic Robert Parker’s Review awarded maximum points (100) to the 2004 and 2005 vintages of Contador, made in the garage. This accolade, hitherto unknown in Spain, hugely increased the label’s international prestige. From 2004 to 2006, Benjamin Romeo and the architect Hector Herrera worked together on the design of his winery, which was built in 2006-8. The new winery (bodega) was opened on 21 June 2008, coinciding with the summer solstice. The building sits at the foot of the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, in the centre of the area where the various Bodega Contador vineyards are located. The three floors or terraces of the winery mirror the original slopes of the site where it is located, at the same time enabling both fruit and wine to be moved by gravity. The building’s terraces are covered with plants that blend in with the local vegetation. The winery has exposed concrete walls so that gradually they become coated with dust and end up melding with the earth from which they came.