Victor Ausejo 2021 | Mazuelo | Rioja

Víctor Ausejo grew up in Alberite, a village in the Iregua Valley eight kilometres south of Logroño. His family had vines, but as a young man he had no interest in wine and worked as a plumber. The construction crisis pushed him to reconsider: he completed a Higher Degree in viticulture and oenology in Logroño, trained at Vivanco and Gómez Cruzado — where he met Miguel Merino, who became his mentor — and in 2018 launched his own project from a converted family garage, with 400 bottles of barrel-fermented Garnacha Blanca.

The project centres on three owned parcels totalling around three hectares. El Peinao, near Clavijo, holds two hectares of Garnacha Blanca at 540 metres altitude, planted in 2016 from cuttings sourced at Remelluri. Los Pepones, in Sojuela, has 0.36 hectares of Garnacha Tinta from vines planted in 1950, at 650 to 800 metres on sandy soils surrounded by woodland. La Colorada, in Alberite, provides 0.5 hectares of Mazuelo (Carignan) planted in 1993 on ferrous clay. All three parcels are farmed without herbicides or systemic treatments — organically in practice, though without formal certification.

Ausejo's philosophy is that of a different Rioja: minority varieties rescued from near-extinction — Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo — minimal intervention, no over-extraction, and balance and tension as guiding principles. He works with stainless steel tanks, a concrete egg, and French and Hungarian oak barrels of varying ages. The Parcela 333 Garnacha Blanca, fermented and aged in barrel and concrete egg, earned 95 points from Tim Atkin MW on its debut vintage, who named it "white wine discovery of the year." Decanter included Ausejo among the five standout producers in its Rioja Report 2026. Annual production is around 10,000 bottles, 60% of which is exported.