The diversity of Rioja lives not only in the wines and food but also in the people who live and work in Spain's premier wine region.  We invite you to take a moment and see for yourself their affection and passion for Rioja - and we hope some of it rubs off on you!

David Moreno: The Balladeer of Badarán

David Moreno takes justifiable pride in the success of his bodega in Badarán, a small village in La Rioja Alta not far from the storied monasteries at Yuso and Suso. When I met him last year, he told me that 14,000 visitors had come through the doors of his Bordelais chateaux-inspired winery in 2005, that transactions at the bodega itself account for a considerable portion of his total sales, and that “we never close.” Demand for his Wine Club–in which members purchase wine by the barrel and pay regular visits to the vaulted underground cellar to enjoy their wine with friends and family amid its soul-soothing calm and flattering light–has never been higher. Moreno exudes the quietly triumphant air of someone who has created something quite lovely from scratch, and that’s pretty much what happened.

He makes a typically broad spectrum of wines, from Blanco Joven to High Expression (called Vobiscum), and I was quite taken by his 2002 Seleccion de la Familia Crianza, aged in a combination of French and American oak, so much so that I took a bottle home with me, since his wine does not yet have American representation.

But the highlight of our afternoon visit came at the end. Fond of working alone late at night, Moreno’s daughter Gemma told us during lunch, David passes the time singing local folk tunes called jotas, a song form that falls somewhere between medieval English ballads and early-19th-century German song cycles a la Schumann and Schubert.

After a little gentle coaxing on our part, Moreno agreed to sing for us. For twenty minutes or so, no one said a word, and the only sound in the cavernous underground space was Moreno’s earnest and unwavering baritone, creating in short order an unforgettable experience bordering on the magical.

(Reprinted from Blame It On Rioja with permission. Photo courtesy of Jose Guerra.)