Cenicero: Wine Culture and the Ebro Landscape

Several distinct themes can be combined during a stay in Cenicero: winery visits, traditional production, architectural history and the landscape along the Ebro. The experiences differ considerably in format. Alongside winery tours that can be booked in advance, there is a sensory cellar experience with a tasting; other details offer insight into wine production and cooperage. You can tailor your stay to what interests you most while keeping the town’s architectural history and landscape in view.

Cellars, Tastings and Production

Bodegas Marqués de Cáceres offers winery tours that can be booked in advance at its Cenicero location. At Bodegas Riojanas, the sensory cellar visit includes the Sala de Sensaciones del Vino and the audiovisual presentation “Los sonidos del vino.” The experience includes a tasting of three wines and Iberian cured meats. Check the availability of the cellar visit and tasting before you go. This lets you distinguish between two different kinds of visit: the bookable winery tour at Marqués de Cáceres and the combination of a sensory room, audiovisual presentation and tasting at Riojanas.

At Bodegas Valentín Pascual, tradition and place are closely linked: the winery uses its cave at Plaza de España in Cenicero to produce a wine using carbonic maceration, made by traditionally treading the grapes. The cave dates back to the 15th century. The winery also continues the practice of treading grapes from its own vineyards barefoot; fermentation takes place in a stone lagar. Valentín Pascual and his son José María conduct the winery tours themselves. Contact the wineries in advance to check availability for a specific date.

Viticulture, Craftsmanship and Architectural History

Bodegas Riojanas, S.A. was founded by two families in Cenicero in 1890. Cenicero Viticola–Finca Cienvacas offers another perspective on viticulture: the winery has its own vineyard, planted entirely with Tempranillo vines more than 30 years old. The founding year and the founding families tell the company’s story; the grape variety and age of the vines, by contrast, describe a specific vineyard.

Cooperage offers a different insight: a visit to Tonelería Gangutia lets you see the toasting of barrels, the tool museum and staff making barrels. Visits must be arranged in advance.

The architecture can also be understood through specific features. The Church of San Martín was completed in the mid-16th century. It has a single-nave layout, chapels between the buttresses, a high choir and a tower. Casa de Cultura “Las Monjas” is a palace built in Cenicero in the 18th century. Together, these represent two different building periods and types of building.

The Ebro Landscape and Finding Your Way

Stage 14.1 of the Camino Natural del Ebro ends at the entrance to Cenicero, beside a park that serves as a viewpoint. The trail follows the floodplains of the Najerilla and Ebro rivers to Cenicero. From the endpoint, the view extends across the broad meanders, riverside forests and islands of the Ebro Valley, as well as vineyards and cultivated land. These include areas of irrigated and dryland farming. The river landscape and agricultural use of the land come into view together.

Cenicero’s tourist information centre offers a different way to get your bearings: it features exposed stone walls, wine-themed decorations and historical photographs of the town and its people. Viticulture, architecture and landscape each offer a different focus for your time in Cenicero.

Discover more destinations: Nájera, Peciña, El Cortijo, Viniegra de Abajo, Pradillo, Tricio, Alcanadre, Castañares De Rioja

Go to the regional travel overview: La Rioja.