During each visit to Rioja, I come away with a slightly clearer picture of where the region is heading. One theme, in particular, keeps resurfacing: a shift towards wines that speak more clearly of where they come from, and the people behind them.
On my most recent trip, I met the passionate and driven Carlos San Pedro, the owner, founder and winemaker behind Bodegas Pujanza. Since founding the estate in 1998 at just 25, his vision has been disarmingly simple: to focus on expressing the vineyard above all else, a stance that, at the time, set him apart from a prevailing fashion centred on blending and heavy oak ageing. Now awarded the unofficial but telling 'First Growth' accolade by Tim Atkin MW, Pujanza firmly ranks among Rioja’s most respected estates. I’m delighted to offer three of his best wines here as a First Release.
Order by midday on Tuesday 12th May
Carlos’ vineyards occupy some of the finest terroirs in the region, with high-altitude plots clustered around the medieval hilltop of Laguardia in Rioja Alavesa, beneath the Sierra Cantabria mountain range. Here, altitude, exposure and soil variation are left to speak for themselves.
Working around 40 hectares, almost entirely as single vineyards, he farms with precision and restraint: native fermentations, careful extraction, and a light touch in the cellar. While some describe this single-vineyard, low-oak approach as 'modern’, Carlos himself sees it differently, drawing inspiration from older traditions, where local, site expression came before cellar and oak influence.
The wines are pure, serious and ageworthy, but never without energy or intent. Notably, in a vintage like 2022, widely considered hot across Rioja, these high, cool sites allowed Pujanza to maintain remarkable freshness across the range, with even greater elegance and, in some cases, lower alcohol than the much-lauded 2021s which I tasted beside his 2022s.
The wines featured in this offer are Norte 2022, the highest and most windswept of the vineyards, defined by tension and structure; La Paul 2022, from a slightly lower slope, offering a more open, red-fruited expression; and tiny production Añadas Frías 2024, a stunning viura white Rioja that shows impeccable detail, complexity and class.
In many ways, Pujanza captures where Rioja feels most exciting today: anchored in tradition, but reinterpreted through a clear sense of place.
