When people in Rioja today speak of Martinez Bujanda, head of the Bodegas Valdemar ring, it is with reverence and respect, this was not always the case. On the contrary, the road to becoming one of the best producers in the region was paved with prejudice, rejection and problems with the authorities. Looking back on history, one would have to say that for a long time, the prophet in his own land counted for nothing here. At the end of the 19th century, the Bujanda family planted the first vines, even then in the best locations in Rioja. The bodega is therefore one of the pioneers of Rioja. The big push towards the highest quality began with the construction of an ultra-modern winery in the 1960s, which would be celebrated as a model operation anywhere else in the world, but in traditional Rioja, with its old cellars and historic buildings, it was initially viewed with suspicion. When the first wines bursting with juicy fruit came onto the market and stood up to many traditional and often even emaciated wines, they were rejected by critics as atypical. Today, it is precisely those representatives of the writers' guild who praise the modern style of the bodega in the highest terms and attest that it has carried the reputation of Rioja as a top Spanish wine out into the world. Once again, the bodega proved to be a pioneer. In the 1980s, the family was also one of the first wineries to introduce temperature-controlled fermentation, at a time when many Bordeaux chateaus were still thinking about it. Even when the 1985 Vendemmia Seleccionada Gran Reserva, a wine that contained a high percentage of Cabernet alongside the indigenous Tempranillo, saw the light of day, the responsible authorities only decided to release it at the last minute. This wine was later celebrated. At almost the same time, Bodegas Valdemar created "Rioja Blanco", one of the first white wines in the region to be allowed to mature in wooden barrels. But despite the modern operation, there is still a lot of manual labour here, from the vineyard to the harvest to the cellar. The wines from Bodegas Valdemar are not technical wines, but are closely linked to the region despite their modern style. The wines win awards non-stop and many critics rank the bodega among the best in the region. The Bujanda family also achieved another milestone with the founding of Finca Valapiedra.
