🍷 Marqués de Cáceres

Marqués de Cáceres is a winery in Cenicero, in the Rioja Alta part of the Rioja appellation; Wikidata gives Cenicero as its location. According to the house, it was founded in 1970 by Enrique Forner, whose family had run Vinícola Forner in Sagunto since 1920 and who had owned châteaux in the Haut-Médoc. He returned to Spain in 1968 and, with his friend the Bordeaux oenologist Émile Peynaud, chose Cenicero for his project.

According to the house, it introduced strict vineyard control, cold fermentation and ageing in new and semi-new French oak; its first reds, a 1970 Crianza and a 1968 Reserva, were released in 1975. Today the winery is run by Enrique Forner's daughter Cristina, and its top wine is Gaudium.

According to the house, after the Civil War Enrique Forner went into exile, set up a winery in the Rhône and Loire valleys in 1952 and in 1963 acquired Château Camensac and Château Larose Trintaudon in the Haut-Médoc. It says that in 1974 Vicente Noguera, the Marqués de Cáceres, gave up his title for commercial use when the winery began marketing wines, and that Cristina Forner joined the business in 1983.

The house names the Tempranillo grape and says the consultant Michel Rolland advised the winery in the 1990s. It opened a third winemaking facility, designed for its top wines, in 1996, and launched Gaudium in 1999 with the 1994 vintage, from the oldest vineyards of Cenicero and San Vicente de la Sonsierra, planted in 1970. According to the house, exports exceed half of its production and reach more than 130 countries.

Rioja is a protected designation of origin (PDO) and Spain's first DOCa. The label shows the ageing: a red Reserva is aged for at least 36 months, at least 12 of them in barrel and 6 in bottle, and a Gran Reserva for at least 60 months, at least 24 in barrel and 24 in bottle. The wine may be bottled only within the zone.

Why it matters to you. Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva are ageing categories set by the rules, while “Marqués de Cáceres” is a brand name, not a noble title. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.