Bodegas Faustino

Bodegas Faustino is one of the most internationally recognized Rioja producers in the world. Its Tempranillo-based wines are distributed around the world, and Faustino makes up more than a third of total Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva exports each year. It is also the largest private holder of vineyards in Rioja, with all of its vineyards located in Rioja Alavesa, the smallest and most northerly of the three Rioja sub-regions.

The bodegas was established in 1861 by Eleuterio Martínez Arzok. Arzok settled in Oyon in Álava in northeastern Spain and bought vineyards. The bodegas became well-known and widely distributed within Spain, but it wasn't until the late 1950s that Julio Faustino Martinez began exporting the wine internationally. In the early 1960s Julio released the Faustino range of wines that continues to be the flagship of the winery today.

Faustino makes a range of Rioja wines at various levels of quality, from Crianza up to Gran Reserva. These can be both red or white, and the estate also makes several Cavas and a couple of rosado wines. Bodegas Faustino wines are especially recognizable for their Burgundy-shaped bottles which are frosted to look like stone. Each label has a baroque portrait that is specific to the wine: the flagship Faustino I Gran Reserva carries the portrait of Nicolaes Van Bambeeck as painted by Rembrandt van Rijn.

The Faustinos have recently expanded to establish the Grupo Faustino. Along with Bodegas Faustino, the group owns seven wineries spread between Rioja, Navarra, La Mancha, Ribera del Duero, and one label that produces wine under the Vino de la Tierra designation.