Fancy a private tour at one of the Rioja’s most esteemed wineries? What about collectable bottles of hard-to-find wines from the region’s leading labels? Celebrated online auction platform Catawiki is bringing a series of exciting and exclusive lots to wine lovers to help mark the launch of Club Oenologique’s inaugural Rioja Report.
The Report features tasting notes and scores from Spanish wine expert Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW for 225 wines in the country’s leading region – and we are partnering with Catawiki’s experts to bring specially curated lots from some of the Rioja Report’s best-loved producers to the highest bidders.
READ MORE: THE RIOJA REPORT
Catawiki’s team of in-house fine wine experts have secured starry lots from some of the Rioja region’s leading estates, names that carry a certain cachet among wine collectors and whose top-tier wines can become the most rare, hard-to-find labels soon after their release.
Here we introduce four estates that, among others, Catawiki is working with to bring show-stopping lots to the attention of wine lovers.
Marqués de Riscal
One of the top-scorers in the Rioja Report 2024, Marqués de Riscal has over 160 years of history and heritage within the region, but that hasn’t held it back from innovation and progression. Its Baron de Chirel Reserva, made from 80-to-110 year-old Tempranillo vines, is a cuvée that showcases the tradition and modernity of Rioja, ‘a wine that ages with amazing restraint’ according to Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW.
It’s also known for its striking masterpiece of a hotel and winery, whose Frank Gehry-designed façade glimmers on the Rioja landscape.
Muga
High-altitude vineyards and insistence on the finest quality French oak are two of the key characteristics of Muga: cooler plots generate a unique sense of freshness aligned with great fruit concentration, and French oak – produced on-site by Rioja’s only master cooper – lends the wines a distinctly Bordelais character.
Many of Muga’s wines were at the top of the table in Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW’s tasting notes, to the point that the critic named the estate as his overall champion of the Report. As such, we can’t wait to see the lots being put forward to the Catawiki platform from this esteemed Rioja brand – among them, a guided winery tour and lunch for two is going under auction.
Remírez de Ganuza
Founded in 1989 by the late Fernándo Remírez de Ganuza, who we sadly lost this year, Remírez de Ganuza has held the expression of Rioja Alavesa’s terroir at its core since day one. And it shows: a cluster of reds and whites picked up exceptional scores in the Rioja Report, with Ballesteros Torres commenting on their remarkable cellarability.
Despite Remírez de Ganuza being a relatively recent winery, it is celebrated for staying true to Rioja tradition in its creation of wines of longevity. Expect unmissable wines from an adored brand currently at its height.
Sierra Cantabria
Marcos Eguren is known as one of the region’s leading lights, coming from a long line of celebrated winemakers within the Eguren family. He is able to demonstrate his flair across the Sierra Cantabria brand’s six coveted labels – with the ‘refined and complex’ wines of Señorio de San Vicente and the ‘beasts’ of Viñedos de Páganos among the Rioja Report’s top-scoring cuvées.
It’s this latter label that also holds the impressive Restaurante El Puntido within its portfolio, a dining room attached to the winery that boasts sweeping views of the mountain range that gives its name to the wider wine group. Dinner for two with wine pairing at this exclusive destination will go under the virtual hammer as part of the auction.
More about the Club Oenologique x Catawiki Rioja wine auction
The above offers just a window into the world of wine auctions at Catawiki. The platform is a destination for rare wine gems, thanks to its dedicated team of in-house experts who select the best items to reach an audience of collectors and connoisseurs.
Catawiki has 13 years of expertise in its fine wine auctions and hosts more than 60 wine auctions each week, selling large formats, vintage finds and rare wines – from Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy through to Italian, Spanish and Portuguese offerings – and with a sales rate of 97.5% for its wine auctions.
Catawiki is the most-visited curated marketplace in Europe for special objects, offering over 75,000 objects for auction each week. Its mission is to provide an exciting and seamless experience to customers for buying and selling special, hard-to-find objects.
Catawiki’s Rioja auction in partnership with Club Oenologique will take place from Friday May 24 at 10 am and will be live until Sunday June 2. From Friday, you can place you bids here.
