Bodega Contador

Benjamin Romeo and his Bodega Contador have become a true legend, with his wines having twice received a 100/100 rating from Parker. After completing his studies in oenology, Benjamin Romeo decided to go to Bordeaux to specialize. He was quickly called back home by the now legendary Artadi winery, where he worked from 1986 to 2000. The rest is history, as Benjamin created the El Pisón and Pagos Viejos wines and led Artadi to the pinnacle of success it has achieved.

At the same time, in 1996, he began making wine in his father’s garage and aging his own wine in a cave carved directly into the mountainside (beneath the fortified church of San Vicente de la Sonsierra). In 2001, he decided to name the wine that would very quickly become his greatest and propel him to the world’s highest level “Bodega Contador” —a wine rated 100/100 by Robert Parker in both 2004 and 2005. The vineyards are located in the Sonsierra region around San Vicente, on the finest terroirs in the entire appellation. The Sierra Cantabria protects San Vicente de la Sonsierra from the cold, damp winds and the accompanying rains coming from the Atlantic. On these splendid, sheltered lands, Benjamin Romeo’s vines are spread across 80 different small plots, all trained in the goblet style. Some of these magical plots are reserved exclusively for the legendary wine of Bodega Contador, such as El Bombón, El Bosque, La Isla, El Sauco, etc.

In the blends crafted by Benjamin, we find (depending on the wine) primarily grapes from clay-limestone soils, but also from “alluvial” gravel, limestone-alluvium, or sandy soils.
For his blends, Tempranillo predominates, supplemented by red Grenache and sometimes even 1% Viura (a white grape variety) in the case of Predicador. The whites are composed primarily of Viura, white Grenache, and Malvasia. Benjamin Romeo’s wines are all extraordinary, full of finesse, minerality, subtlety, and elegance. They are distinguished and magnificent wines.