About Gomez Cruzado

Gómez Cruzado is one of the historic houses of Haro’s famed Barrio de la Estación, the railway district that is also home to López de Heredia, La Rioja Alta, CVNE, and Muga. It is one of the oldest producers in the Barrio and also the smallest. The winery’s origins date to 1886, when Ángel Gómez de Arteche, a nobleman related to the Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo, began making and bottling his own wine in Haro, in the heart of Rioja Alta. After his death in 1912 the business struggled, and in 1916 the Gómez Cruzado brothers bought the winery and gave it the name it carries today. For much of the 20th century, the wines had little visibility and were sold mostly in Mexico. In the early 2000s the winery was acquired by the Baños family, originally from Badarán in La Rioja but long settled in Mexico. The new owners began restoring the original winery building in the center of the Barrio, combining rehabilitation of its century-old architecture with modern cellar technology.

The winery’s modern revival began with a young winemaking team. Oenologist David González and viticulturist Juan Antonio Leza arrived in the late 2000s, first as consultants and later as managers. They built a range with a contemporary edge, often by reinterpreting historic brands and traditional styles. The winery defines its wines by freshness, respect for fruit, elegance, balance, and typicity, always favoring finesse over power. The vineyards in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa are mostly old bush-trained vines, and the team is committed to preserving this traditional grape-growing landscape as cultural heritage. Two areas define its sourcing. One is old-vine Garnacha in the Alto Najerilla valley, where clay and iron-rich soils run south of the Ebro toward the Sierra de la Demanda. The other is the cooler Sonsierra in Rioja Alta. Juan Bautista Sáenz, formerly of Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez, has been technical director since the 2023 harvest.

The range revives two classic Rioja styles, differentiated by the shape of the bottle. Burgundy-shaped bottles hold Garnacha-rich wines, while Bordeaux-shaped bottles hold Tempranillo-led blends built for aging. The historic Viña Dorana, about 60% Tempranillo and 40% Garnacha from the Alto Najerilla, now takes the place of the Reserva. Honorable, the oldest registered Gómez Cruzado brand, and Viña Motúlleri, the top red, bottled only in magnum, both come from old Sonsierra vines and age well. The terroir series shows the estate at its most site-specific. Pancrudo is a crisp, spicy Garnacha from Badarán. Cerro Las Cuevas is a Tempranillo-led blend from the winery’s own vineyards in Ollauri. Montes Obarenes is a white for aging, made from Viura and Tempranillo Blanco grown around Haro.