Bodega El Fabulista, the subway winery of Laguardia.

Meet the subway cellar of Laguardia, a cozy winery in the center of Laguardia.

The subway winery in Laguardia that we present today, El Fabulista, is located under the Samaniego Palace, the birthplace of the famous writer and fabulist Félix Mª Samaniego. A small and cozy winery, which has made us fall in love with its subway tunnels, its traditional way of elaborating wines and the characteristics of its peculiar signature wines. At present, there are 3 wineries that produce wine in subway cellars, under the floor of the walled town of Laguardia. Among them is the Bodega el Fabulista, a fact that adds even more value to the guided tours offered. Among all of them, the dramatized visit has gained many followers in recent months, and the fusion of a guided tour of the winery, a nice wine tasting and a small theater among wine cellars, is always a great option to learn more about the culture and history of the Rioja Alavesa. In our case, we were not able to attend the theatrical visit, so in this article we will give you our opinion about our experience during the typical (standard) visit to the winery El Fabulista. This winery has 3 parallel cellars and an open space with 2 wine presses, 4 perfect places to approach the culture and history of wine in the Rioja Alavesa. This Basque winery, restored in 2000, allows us to learn about the traditional method of winemaking in the Rioja Alavesa (carbonic maceration) while we know the subsoil of the town, a nice plan to add to any getaway to Laguardia.

The main attractions of Bodega El Fabulista are formed by its incredible location in Laguardia, the heart of the Rioja Alavesa, and the historic tunnels, which, in the past, linked together, formed the streets of the subway Laguardia. Today, walls have been built to separate these ancient subway streets to convert them into private spaces such as wineries or restaurants. In this article, we show you part of them, do you dare to visit them with us?

The Bodega El Fabulista is one of those spaces that, helped by the most charming corners of Laguardia, takes us back in time to the Middle Ages. Its subway tunnels, full of history and wine, dim and with stone as the protagonist, are a film set.

History: In the past, Laguardia, capital of the Rioja Alavesa, had more than 300 subway cellars within its walls where wine was produced and stored, while outside the walls were only the vineyards. Today, due to the evolution of the techniques / technologies used to make wine and many other aspects, this has changed drastically. Such is the change, that today more than 300 wineries are located outside the walls, while inside there are only 3. One of them is the winery that concerns us today, El Fabulista. The building on which the present winery sits was owned by the family of Félix María Samaniego from 1745 to 1801, as this palatial house was the birthplace of the famous Basque writer. We should mention that the winery is accessed through the adjoining building, on the right side. After more than 2 years of renovations, the winery was opened to the public, producing, storing and marketing wines under the Fabulista brand. This company, managed by the Lavin Santamaría family, also offers us the opportunity to visit Villa Lucía, one of the most important gastronomic complexes in Laguardia.

Video: As usual in all our articles, we have created and published a video about this subway winery in Laguardia so that you can check as real as possible what awaits you in this idyllic corner of southern Euskadi. We hope it will be helpful. In case you like this kind of videos, we encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel to discover all the places and experiences that we recommend in the Basque Country. We are waiting for you!

Villa Lucía: This space located in Laguardia, left us astonished after knowing its museum and 4D cinema dedicated to the culture of wine. But Villa Lucía is much more than that. This Basque complex is the nerve center of Laguardia, a gastronomic space, where we recommend enjoying local products, the raw material of km 0, the famous slowfood concept. Quality and local product fused with a good work in the kitchen. 100% recommended. If you want more information about this place, we recommend you to read our article about the wine museum of Laguardia, Villa Lucia.

The winery: The winery of El Fabulista, small and coquettish, surprises us with 2 totally different spaces. On the one hand, the 2 concrete presses in which wine is made by hand, treading the grapes as in the old days. And on the other hand, at a depth of 7 meters, 3 parallel cellars linked together with charming tunnels. Each of these 3 cellars is designed for all kinds of purposes: winemaking, aging and tasting.

Tasting: At the end of the guided visit to El Fabulista winery, we are given the opportunity to taste two of their wines. We should mention that the winery El Fabulista only uses grapes from their own vineyards. Thus producing wines, which are only marketed in the winery. Although they have different characteristics, for us they were pleasant in all senses: visual, olfactory and gustatory. Each of the types of wine produced on this visit has a different label. And the fact is that this winery labels its wines with fables of Samaniego’s Fabulist, very original. The first one, a young wine, of the year. The second is a crianza, fuller-bodied, more complete. Although the opinions of the group were very varied, the one we liked the most was the last one, the crianza. We must remember that a wine is not better for being a crianza or a vintage, but for being the one that each of us likes the most. For tastes the colors. After the visit, we have the option to buy some of the wines we have tasted.

Visit: The guided tour of the Bodega El Fabulista begins outside the winery, next to the door, where an introduction introductory tour takes us into the world of Rioja Alavesa winemaking. The history of Laguardia and Félix María Samaniego are also some of the first protagonists of this visit. Once the first explanation is finished, we enter the winery. In front of us we find the 2 concrete presses, a destemmer and a press from 1903. The destemmer is merely decorative, as it has never been used because it does not make sense when making wine with the ancestral method of carbonic maceration. After explaining the basic concepts of this method and its strengths, we went underground, and the good stuff began. It is said that the set of subway tunnels extends under the Samaniego’s plot, about 600 square meters, however, the winery only has 3 parallel corridors. But don’t worry, although the winery El Fabulista does not have kilometers of subway tunnels, the meters we walk through are enough to give us an idea of the appearance of the city that hides under the ground of Laguardia. Many of these tunnels show us their original appearance, while others have been reinforced with masonry walls, among all of them, we find a water well, a sign that it was possible to live between these stone walls at times when the surface of Laguardia was not safe. Although many experts tell us that the tunnels of Laguardia were converted into cellars in the sixteenth century, they also maintain that they existed long before Laguardia obtained the status of villa in the twelfth century. The first of the subway tunnels we visited has several concrete tanks where just over 44,000 liters of wine are stored. The second tunnel houses the more than 60 French and American oak barrels in which these signature wines are aged. Finally, we give way to a space set up for tastings, where a commented tasting of two of the wines of the house takes place. To look for a downside, we could say that groups of 30 people can be very large once we get into the basement. It may not be a perfect visit for those who suffer from claustrophobia.

Price: The guided visit to the winery El Fabulista (including the tasting of 2 of its wines) is priced at 12.5 € per person including VAT (adults). A rate in line with the market price that we find in other wineries in the Rioja Alavesa. You can check the rest of the rates and book a place here. Although this is the most common visit, El Fabulista has many other visits, here is a brief summary.

Félix María Samaniego: Famous fabulist and Basque nobleman, influenced by French intellectuals and married to Manuela de Salcedo (a highborn Biscayan), this writer from Laguardia participated in the foundation of the Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País (Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country). A very restless person, he defended the interests of Araba on more than one occasion. Some of his writings, often on controversial issues such as politics or sex, brought him more than one problem with justice, from which he emerged unscathed thanks to his contacts in the Spanish nobility. After traveling and living in different parts of Europe, Félix María Samaniego returned in 1792 to Laguardia, where he died on August 11, 1801.

Rioja Alavesa: This land has captivated the hearts of thousands of travelers. A rural environment, in which the culture and history of Euskadi is very present. We recommend a series of articles so that you can complete your list of experiences in the Rioja Alavesa.

As you have been able to see, Bodega El Fabulista is not only one of the few wineries that make wine within the walls of Laguardia, but also one of the few that continues to sell its wines only in its winery. A space with a lot of personality, which we recommend you to visit with your eyes closed.