First the mountains come into view, brusque yet majestic. In front of them are the church towers of the little medieval town of Elciego, proud and dignified. Then this: gleaming red and pink waves, sensuous curves of silver and gold. Closely entwined and interwoven, they rise above the rolling vineyards – an astonishing, spectacular, unreal apparition. Welcome in La Rioja. Welcome, moreover, at the region’s new icon, the avantgarde Marqués de Riscal wine hotel designed by Frank O. Gehry.
After the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, this building must be the one that excites most attention in Spain. The statics of its roof were so elaborate as to require wind tunnel testing. Its titanium skin rolls above lovely sober rectilinear sandstone blocks with interiors up to five metres high. The windows can be opened wide – permitting both surprising insights into the architecture and distant views out across the countryside. No storey, no room is identical in this architectural miracle and yet its interior proves to be of purist clarity; here too, Frank O. Gehry has left his mark.
Architect Frank O. Gehry, sketches of the new icon for the traditional wine-growing region La RiojaLuxury for all the senses
Managed by Starwood Luxury Collection, the Hotel Marques de Riscal is a luxury hotel that takes luxury seriously. The restaurant is distinguished by a Michelin star, the library is dedicated to beautiful things whether conveyed in pictures or texts, the immaculately equipped auditorium will hold 100 guests, and the wellness/spa area is more than simply spacious, being declared “best spa 2007“ by design magazine Wallpaper. As a matter of honor, beauty treatments here are based on grape extracts.
Hotel Marqués de Riscal © A.TylerYet at the same time the Marqués de Riscal aspires to be more than a luxury hotel: It is a hymn to wine. Even the colors of its roofs are symbolic – rosé for wine from the cellars, gold for the net of fine wire covering every bottle of Rioja produced here, silver for the metal capsule on the top of each bottle. The complex created here for around 80 million euros covers altogether 100,000 square metres – including the most modern technical equipment and a “cathedral of wine” allowing the estate’s treasures to mature undisturbed.
A Gesamtkunstwerk with a single task
All this is vital, for the Marqués de Riscal must be more than a hotel. Wine tourism is today an economic factor, wine as a product not simply a matter of taste, but also of image. Vintner Julián Chivite engaged renowned Spanish architect Rafael Moneo for his seine Bodegas in Navarra back 1991, while the Bodegas Ysios are notable for the sophisticated architectural solutions of Santiago Calatrava.
Hotel Marqués de Riscal © A.TylerRiscal has a task that goes beyond enjoyment and the good life. It is the new visiting card for one of the oldest and most prestigious Bodegas in Rioja, doing sterling work in the competition among winegrowers, in the worldwide contest for customers, visitors, connoisseurs. Gehry’s building is the for the moment Europe’s crowning highlight in that context – all the more splendid, then, that a true king should have seen his way to honor its opening.