Artuke is a family-run winery deeply rooted in the landscape and surroundings of Baños de Ebro, in Rioja Alavesa. In 1991, Roberto de Miguel moved from selling bulk wine to bottling his own, but it was his sons Arturo and Kike —whose names provide the acronym behind the winery’s name— who took over the reins two decades later. Today, the winery is run by Arturo de Miguel, while his brother Kike manages the vineyards that supply the Artuke (there is only one external provider who brings old-vine grapes from Samaniego).
Aware of the viticultural legacy they had inherited, the brothers carried out a detailed study of the soils in their plots in Baños de Ebro, Ábalos and San Vicente de la Sonsierra when they joined the project, later extending their research to Paso Las Mañas in Samaniego. All 36 hectares of vineyards are bush-trained, including the newly planted ones, and farmed organically.
Their commitment to preserving old vineyards has led them to rescue plots such as La Condenada, a vineyard with sandy soils and sandstone bedrock that they recovered from abandonment in 2012. It is planted with old vines of Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha, along with a small amount of Cagazal or Calagraño (a variety similar to Palomino Fino). Next to this plot in Baños de Ebro, they have gradually acquired small adjoining parcels that once formed part of the same vineyard, bringing the total area under their ownership to 0.75ha.
The wines
The first vintage of La Condenada was 2013. It remains their flagship single-vineyard wine, prized for its finesse and complexity (1,200 bottles, €99). Another of their single-vineyard bottlings is El Escolladero (1,200 bottles, €73), a blend of Tempranillo (75%) and Graciano (25%) from a vineyard planted in 1950 at 600 metres above sea level, on clay-limestone soils in the village of Ábalos.
Their most recent acquisition was Paso Las Mañas (8,000 bottles, €30), a 3.9ha vineyard on Samaniego’s highest slopes, at 730 metres. Its clay and limestone soils are covered with surface stones. The vineyard was planted in 2013 with Tempranillo vines from their Finca de Los Locos. These three single-vineyard wines share a similar approach to winemaking: the grapes are destemmed, and both malolactic fermentation and ageing — between 12 and 16 months— take place in large French oak barrels or foudres.
Finca de Los Locos (10,000 bottles, €22) is another of their better-known vineyards in Baños de Ebro. Its name pays tribute to Arturo’s and Kike’s grandfather, who had the foresight to buy a plot of almost three hectares on a terrace overlooking the River Ebro, at 550 metres. It was 1950, and local growers could not understand why anyone would plant vines on such an unproductive site, with sandy and gravelly soils and three times the average lime content for the area. What seemed like madness on the part of their stubborn grandfather has since become one of the family’s most appreciated vineyards. It is planted with Tempranillo and Graciano grafted onto rootstocks using massal selection.
Their village wine range comprises two labels. Artuke (85,000 bottles, €8) is one of the finest carbonic maceration wines in Rioja Alavesa. Made in the traditional style, it is a blend of Tempranillo and 5% Viura, with the grapes fermented whole-bunch. Pies Negros (65,000 bottles, €13), meanwhile, is made from grapes grown in Ábalos, with Tempranillo as its main component and 10% Graciano. It is aged for around 13 months in 500-litre French oak barrels, with 15% of the wine matured in concrete vats.
Trascuevas (5,000 bottles, €33), first released with the 2020 vintage, is Artuke’s white wine. It is a blend of old-vine Viura, with small amounts of Malvasía and Calagraño, sourced from vines planted on the highest part of three vineyards in Samaniego, Villabuena and Baños de Ebro.
A strong advocate of collaboration between producers who share the same principles, Artuke belongs to Rioja’n’Roll, a group founded in 2015, as well as Subsierra, VIR and Futuro Viñador.
The winery welcomes wine tourism visitors by prior appointment only.