State-of-the-Art Meets Art of the Estate
Led by winemaker Barbara Palacios, Casa La Rad seamlessly blends modern innovation with time-honored winemaking traditions. Our winery’s cutting-edge design is built for precision, yet every technique we use stays true to the character of our estate and its unique natural rhythms.
At Casa La Rad, technology plays a key role in crafting wines that are vibrant, expressive, and true to their origins. Our temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks allow for gentle, precise fermentation, preserving the pure flavors of the fruit. Meanwhile, our impressive barrel room, home to French and American oak barrels, enhances complexity and depth.
Unlike most Rioja wineries, Casa La Rad has chosen not to follow the traditional Crianza and Reserva aging classifications, which impose strict time requirements on oak aging.
Instead, we focus on what best serves each individual wine, ensuring our estate’s distinctive terroir shines through in every bottle.
Our meticulously maintained barrel room—kept at ideal temperature and humidity—houses over 300 oak barrels (225L and 500L) from world-renowned cooperages like Seguin Moreau, Berthomieu, and Ermitage. Each barrel is custom-toasted to complement the character of the wine it holds. To strike the perfect balance of structure and elegance, we age about 20% of our wines in new oak, carefully selecting the right approach for each vintage.
For more nuanced winemaking, we also use large oak barrels for special fermentations, including the malolactic fermentation of powerful white wines sourced from our old-vine parcels at Casa de La Rad.
Our philosophy embraces minimal intervention, allowing the natural vibrancy of our grapes to take center stage. This approach not only preserves freshness and fruit purity but also highlights the subtle complexities that make our wines truly unique.
