Villota

Ricardo Pérez Pérez, a Riojan returning from Chile, bought the San Rafael estate in 1930, at Laserna (Laguardia), on a meander of the Ebro, its vineyard planted but badly neglected. His son Ricardo Pérez Calvet, an agricultural engineer, took over in 1945, recovered the old vines and planted more; the family turned to selling grapes to local producers and for fifty years supplied CVNE, above all for Viña Real.

In 1973, with Rumasa trying to buy the estate, Ricardo Pérez Calvet and his son Ricardo Pérez Villota went into a 50/50 partnership with CVNE and created Viñedos del Contino, Rioja's first single-estate winery. The partnership lasted forty years. When it was wound up, CVNE kept the winery and 62 hectares of vines, and the family kept the rest of the estate and founded its own brand, Villota, presenting its first wines, Villota Selección white and red, in 2016 in very short runs.

Today the house is run by Carmen Pérez Garrigues, daughter of Ricardo Pérez Villota, and since the 2021 harvest the winemaking has been in the hands of Jesús Madrazo, who had worked with the family at Contino.

Selvanevada Blanco is 91% Viura with Tempranillo Blanco and Garnacha Blanca: destemmed with barely any crushing, gently pressed after a short pre-fermentation maceration, fermented in steel and aged six months on its lees in French oak.