HistoriesThe history of the person who lends his name to our wine runs parallel to that of the land that has made us great. To him we owe the knowledge and inspiration that have led us to become all that we are today, while the land is what made it all possible.
In the small town of Etxebarri, now absorbed by the Biscayan capital, Ramón Bilbao Murga was born in 1876, embarking upon the journey of his life, as well as our very history.
Ramón’s family were not poor, but nor were they swimming in abundance. In those years, the people of Etxebarri mostly worked in fishing, although there began to be signs of some prosperity with the expansion of the iron and steel industry.
Although the history of Rioja’s wine began many centuries earlier, in 1863 there occurred an event that would mark this winegrowing region forever: the arrival of the phylloxera in Europe.
Ruined by this plague, dozens of French producers looked to Haro in search of wine to supplement their demand, which brought splendour, prosperity and transformative winegrowing knowledge to the area. The 1880s and 1890s were decades of great splendour which saw the emergence of what are now the region’s centenary wineries.
The phylloxera is an insect similar to an aphid that attacks the vine’s leaves and root fibres. Hailing from North America, it completely wiped out Europe’s vineyards towards the end of the 19th century.
As Ramón Bilbao grew, so did his creative and business-minded spirit, and he watched eagerly as the region progressed, beginning to wonder if he too might become a winemaker himself. He would only need the will, courage, imagination and perhaps a few drops of luck.
Having re-established their vineyards, the French began to lose interest in Riojan wines. In 1892, the French government imposed a tax in imported wines, which is when winemakers in Rioja began to look to the demand in Spain.
Ramón began working in a café in Etxebarri, excited to save enough money to set up his own business.
Encouraged by an uncle of his who worked in the wine and cereal trade, he decided to move to Anguciana, a small village 5km from Haro. However, just before getting settled in, his uncle passed away. Ramón then married his own aunt, and soon his first daughter was born./em>
The beginning was very tough, since the phylloxera hit Rioja, destroying the vineyards. Nonetheless, Ramón pushed on with courage and determination, and in 1899 he took his warehouse to Haro.
The phylloxera was a threat to the region. First it reached Navarre, and in 1899, the insect was officially detected in Rioja.
In 3 or 4 years, the whole vineyard was lost. During the first few years of the great crisis, some wines could still be produced, many from phylloxerated grapevines and others from La Mancha, where the phylloxera took some years to arrive. But soon, the decrease in production was coupled with the difficulty in exporting such poor-quality wines.
As of 1914, Ramón lived in Haro with his wife and three children. There, he opened a grain warehouse and bought several plots of land along the road to Casalarreina where he began to plant grapevines.
The region’s economic recovery was greatly boosted by Spain’s neutrality in the Great War, but the Riojans, vowing never again to place all of their eggs in the same basket, diversified production beyond wine.
The 1920s were truly happy years for Ramón Bilbao. In addition to the grain warehouse and the vineyards already in his possession, he opened a bodega in 1924 in Cuevas Street in Haro, which reaped 124,857kg in its first harvest.
In 1926, Rioja’s Designation of Origin and Regulatory Council were established. Furthermore, Alfonso XIII visited Logroño and, astonished by the richness of the Riojan capital, replaced the French wines of the Royal Household with Riojan wines.
In 1929, just five years after opening the bodega, Ramón passed away, leaving a dream come true to his son Enrique Bilbao – a dream that is still kept alive today inside every bottle of Ramón Bilbao, just waiting to be discovered.
Today The legacy of Ramón Bilbao is kept more alive than ever today, through its wines as well as a brand that grows year after year, seeing life through different eyes.
The family business Zamora Company teamed up with Bodegas Ramón Bilbao to continue together on this great journey. They were joined by Rodolfo Bastida, Enologist and Managing Director at the bodega. This is the year when Mirto, the bodega's most iconic wine, was produced for the first time.
On top of the many awards achieved so far, in 2014, the winery was awarded Best Spanish Producer by IWSC.
Ramón Bilbao opened its own bodega in Finca Las Almedas, Rueda, which is one of Spain's most iconic and internationally renowned designations of origin.
We achieved our dream of making the ranking "50 Most Admired Brands in the World", created by Drinks International.
