Traditional Rioja Bodega Crawl in Haro

In 1863, a parasite destroyed Bordeaux and saved Haro. French winemakers fleeing phylloxera followed the new railway south into Rioja, set up shop beside the tracks, and in 27 years built what is now the world's largest concentration of century-old bodegas in a single city block. López de Heredia deliberately keeps cobwebs in its cellar — the spiders eat moths that attack the corks. Gustave Eiffel, fresh from finishing his tower in Paris, designed a column-free cellar at CVNE so barrels could roll directly onto waiting trains. And you can tour all three on foot in an afternoon.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Walk the Street That Phylloxera Built History · Free

   Where: Avenida Vizcaya, Barrio de la Estación — the street north of the old railway station bridge in Haro. Walk the full length, roughly 10 minutes from one end to the other.

   What: In 1863, a tiny louse arrived in France and started eating Bordeaux's vineyards alive. By 1868, the phylloxera epidemic had destroyed France's greatest wine region. Desperate French négociants followed the new Tudela-Bilbao railway line south into Spain, found Rioja had soil almost identical to Bordeaux, and set up shop here — RIGHT next to the train station so they could ship wine north without delay. They brought something more valuable than their money: Bordeaux winemaking techniques, French barriques, the concept of extended oak aging. Before the French arrived, Rioja wine was sold in animal skins at local markets. Everything you see on this street — López de Heredia (1877), CVNE (1879), Muga, La Rioja Alta (1890) — exists because a parasite destroyed France.

   How: Start at the entrance arch of López de Heredia (the white tower at Avenida Vizcaya, 3). Stand in front of it. That tower was built in 1877 when the first vine-and-railway entrepreneurs arrived. Walk slowly north — you're passing through 150 years of wine history. Look at the scale of the buildings: these aren't farmhouses, they're industrial wine fortresses, all clustered together because the train was right here. Find the Zaha Hadid pavilion outside López de Heredia — a shimmering titanium structure shaped like a decanter, built in 2002. It's free to stand next to and photograph from the street.

   Backup: If you want more context before walking, the Barrio de la Estación official website (barrioestacion.com) has a free downloadable map of all 7 bodegas. The walk is always accessible regardless of whether individual bodegas are open.

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2. 2 Enter the Cobweb Cathedral at López de Heredia Wine · Price: high

   Where: R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, Avenida Vizcaya, 3, Haro. Book in advance — weeks ahead for weekends, days ahead for weekdays. Email visitas@tondonia.com or call +34 941 31 02 44. Tours run approximately 2 hours.

   What: You're about to enter a winery that hasn't changed its approach since 1877 — and that's not a marketing slogan, it's a provable fact. In a cellar covering 3,400 square metres, 12,900 American oak barrels sit in darkness. The Gran Reserva wine sleeping in those barrels will not be released until it has spent 10 years in barrel and 12 years in bottle — 22 years total. Look at the walls: the black mold and cobwebs are deliberate. The spiders eat moths that would attack the corks, which is why every bottle of Gran Reserva here carries a wax seal instead of foil — the spiders guard the wine more effectively than any capsule. The fourth generation is still here: María José López de Heredia, whose great-grandfather built this place, runs it today with her siblings.

   How: When your guide takes you into the underground cellar, notice the smell — it's different from any other winery you'll ever visit. The ambient yeasts, mold, and microbiome of this specific cellar are what makes Tondonia Tondonia. Ask your guide: "When does the current Gran Reserva get released?" The answer will stun you. In the shop, ask to see the wax-sealed bottles and get the spider story explained — watch the reaction when most visitors hear it for the first time.

   Backup: If tours are fully booked, the wine shop is open without a reservation. Buy a bottle of Viña Tondonia Reserva (around €20) and open it that evening — the wine is already 6+ years old when it leaves the cellar.

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3. 3 Find the Cellar the Eiffel Tower Engineer Built History · Price: moderate

   Where: CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España), Barrio de la Estación s/n, 26200 Haro. Open Mon–Sat 09:00–16:30. Book in advance at cvne.com. Standard tour 90 minutes. The Imperial Tour (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays at 12:00) is the one to book — 2 hours, includes Imperial Gran Reserva tasting with Cameros cheese, acorn-fed ham, and artisan chocolates.

   What: In 1890, eleven years after founding this bodega, the Real de Asúa brothers hired Gustave Eiffel to design a cellar. Yes: the same Gustave Eiffel who had just completed the Eiffel Tower in Paris (1889). The brief was practical — they needed to move enormous barrels without pillars in the way. Eiffel's solution was steel trusses running wall-to-wall, creating a completely column-free space. It was revolutionary. A private rail track ran directly from the adjacent railway station into this cellar so that filled barrels could roll out and onto trains without ever touching open air. The wine that made CVNE famous — Imperial — was first produced in the 1920s for the English market, bottled in a special size called the Pinta Imperial (Imperial Pint, roughly half a litre). The English loved it so much the wine took the bottle's name.

   How: When you reach the Eiffel cellar, look up at the roof structure before the guide explains it. Notice there are no columns — just open space from wall to wall. Then look for where the rail track came in (you can still see evidence of it in the floor). Ask the guide: "Is this really the same Eiffel?" Watch them confirm it with the practiced pride of someone who has loved that question for years. Order the Imperial Gran Reserva during the tasting — it's only produced in years the family declares excellent.

   Backup: If the Imperial Tour is fully booked, the standard 90-minute tour (Mon–Sat) includes the Eiffel cellar and a two-wine tasting. The Eiffel cellar is the centrepiece of both tours.

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4. 4 Watch the Only Barrel-Maker Left in Spanish Wine Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Bodegas Muga, Avenida Vizcaya, 2, Haro — directly across the street from López de Heredia. Book via visitas@bodegasmuga.com or +34 941 30 60 60. Standard tour: 25€ per person, 90 minutes, includes 3 wines. Book at least a few days ahead.

   What: Every other winery in Spain buys its barrels from a cooperage. Muga builds their own. There is a master cooper here — one of the last people in Spain who does this for a living. He has three coopers working under him, and his son is already training to take over. The Muga family travels to France and the United States every year to personally inspect and select oak trees. The wood is seasoned at the winery itself before the coopers shape it. The result: 14,000 barrels, every single one born right here. The sound inside the cooperage — the hammer driving hoops down on staves, the smell of new oak — has been unchanged for centuries. When you drink a Muga Reserva, you're tasting wood the family chose, barrels their cooper built, and a wine aged in a container made 50 metres from where you're standing.

   How: When the tour reaches the cooperage, don't just observe — ask to see the cooper work if one is active. The guides know which of their coopers likes to demonstrate. Afterward in the tasting, ask: "Which wine spent the most time in these barrels?" The answer reveals how deep the obsession runs. If you want the extended experience, book the Premium Plus Tour (book online) — small groups, four wines, asparagus, homemade cheeses, and Iberian charcuterie.

   Backup: If the standard tour is sold out, the Torre Muga tasting room (60€/person) is available without the full tour, and still includes wines from barrels made in the cooperage below you.

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5. 5 Close the Day Standing Up at Bar Chamonix Adventure · Price: low

   Where: Bar Chamonix, Calle Santo Tomás, Haro old town. A 15-minute walk from the Barrio de la Estación, or a 5-minute taxi. Open Mon/Wed–Sun 12:30–16:00 and 19:30–00:00. Closed Tuesdays.

   What: Bar Chamonix has been here since 1979. It is the kind of bar that defines why you travel: no menu card, no waiter, no table service unless you want it. You walk to the counter, you look at the day's pintxos on glass plates, you point at what you want, and someone hands it to you. The grilled mushrooms (champignons on the griddle) are what people come back for specifically — the Chamonix griddle is an art form, as Haro food writers put it without irony. Order those. Then order a glass of the local Crianza — ask for whatever Rioja they recommend, because you've spent the day inside three bodegas that make exactly this kind of wine and now you can taste it the way it was always meant to be drunk: standing up in a bar with locals, not sitting down with a tasting note.

   How: Arrive at 20:00 when the evening session starts. Order at the counter: mushrooms, a couple of pinchos morunos (the lamb skewers), and a glass of red. Total cost: under €10. If you want to upgrade, order the shrimp pintxos as well. The ritual is simple — eat one, drink a little, move slightly, notice who else is there. Half the town passes through Chamonix on any given evening.

   Backup: If Chamonix is unexpectedly closed or too crowded, Los Caños on the same street is a nearly century-old tapas bar with similar pintxos. Both are in the old town heart of Haro.

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