SEÑORÃO DE LÃBANO: Roots and Essence
SEÑORÃO DE LÃBANO: OUR ROOTS, OUR ESSENCES
Some names seem to carry their essnce in their very sound. The name Sajazarra echoes strength and firmness, the same vigor that still makes the castle ashlar proud, the majesty exhibited by its towers, its balconies, and its loopholes. Sajazarra brings back echoes of power, tasted by its fortified precincts in many bloody battles between the medieval kingdoms witnessed by its battlements.
Around Sajazarra one can also find other names full of history, full of stories. The Count of Nieva, lord of the primitive fortress erected in the 13th century and an ancestor of Don Diego Lopez de Zúñiga y de Velasco, viceroy of Peru. Or Don Pedro Fernández de Velasco, owner of the bastion in the 15th century, appointed Condestable de Castilla by Enrique IV. Or the more humble Juan Martinez, an Arnedo-born so devout of his Virgin of Vico that she released him from the dungeons of the castle so he could accomplish his fervent desire to attend the mass on Saturday.
In our times, the name of Sajazarra is linked to the LÃbano family, who acquired the bastion, rather damaged due to time, and started the restoration with accuracy and illusion. The castle revealed its best kept secret, the winepresses for the elaboration of wine and a press. Perhaps an act of gratitude, perhaps a an act o gratitude, perhaps a sign.
From that very moment, an exciting enterprise got started: the acquired some land in the Obarenses Mounts slopes, a perfect spot due to its clay-chalk soil sheltered from the winds; vineyards are planted, mostly “tempranillo†grape; they harvest towards the end of October, like in all this far region of the Rioja Alta; and they elaborate the first harvest in a strictly handmade fashion, so, eventually, in 1973, the first wine is obtained.
Once its excellent quality had been contrasted, at the same standard as the best Rioja Alta wines, they commercialized it, increased the number of casks, improved the installations and, finally, moved the cellar to some new buildings located in the gardens of the castle and zealously designed to respect the esthetic harmony of the surroundings.
So this is how SeñorÃo de LÃbano winery and Castillo de Sajazarra one of its brands was born, a wine carrying the power of its roots and ancestry.
