Walk through the Barrio de la Estación

The Barrio de la Estación (Station District) is the part of Haro that explains why the town calls itself the capital of Rioja. In the second half of the 19th century the railway replaced pack animals for taking wine out, and at the same time French winemakers arrived looking for Rioja wine, because oidium (1863) and phylloxera (1867) had ruined their harvests. They set up their warehouses beside the provisional station. None of those French warehouses is left standing, but the wineries that settled beside them between 1877 and 1904 are, and they still make wine on the same spot.

Seven wineries in seven hundred metres

The order of arrival is almost a lesson in Rioja history: López de Heredia in 1877, the Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (CVNE) in 1879, Gómez Cruzado in 1886, La Rioja Alta in 1890 and Bodegas Bilbaínas in 1901. Muga, founded in 1932 in the old town, moved to the district from 1970, and Roda built its winery here in 1987, over a 19th-century cellar. Six of them form the Barrio de la Estación association; López de Heredia goes its own way.

From outside you see it free and in a good hour: stone buildings, courtyards, the López de Heredia tower and the CVNE buildings, which the winery links to Eiffel's firm. The longest distance between two wineries in the district is about 700 metres, so it is all done on foot.

Going into a winery: each with its own booking

There is no joint entry to the wineries: each sells its own visit. Muga shows its wooden vats and its cooperage for €30, and La Rioja Alta does a guided tasting for €35; CVNE sells its visits on its website, also in English. López de Heredia only receives professionals, by appointment, and closes during the harvest. Its shop does sell wine to the public: Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 16:00, and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 to 16:30; on public holidays it is closed and there is no tasting.

The Friday guided route and the passport

The association organises Barrio de la Estación Tours on Fridays at 10:30, from the train station car park. It is about three and a half hours on foot, with a visit to areas of three wineries and a wine and a tapa at each. There are two routes that alternate: Bilbaínas, Muga and Gómez Cruzado, or CVNE, La Rioja Alta and Roda. Groups are 12 people at most, in Spanish or English, with prior booking on its website; the price appears when you book.

The Passport is another way to do it without a guide: six wines and six tapas, one at the wine bar of each member winery, valid for a year. It is individual, bought beforehand and collected at the CVNE wine bar. It does not include the full winery visit, only the bar.

Ten minutes from Plaza de la Paz

From Plaza de la Paz it is about 10 minutes on foot, going down towards the Ebro and crossing it. If you come by car, the reference point is the station car park, the same one where the routes start. The walk fits with the old town and the Herradura and with lunch at Terete, as in the Sunday in Haro.