The Robles family has been dedicated to wine making in Montilla (Southern Spain) since 1927. In the late 1990s, the third generation takes over the winery and understands the need to incorporate organic viticulture and work with indigenous yeasts into the tradition of the winery.

Our approach is quite straightforward: grow the most intense and flavorful organic grapes that you can, guide the natural process and draw all the fruit’s richness into the wine.

With the experience acquired over three generations, we have learned an important lesson: the more we care for land, the better our wine.

And if awards have something to say something on the matter, it seems that we have achieved the objective:

Agriculture and Fisheries Awards 2017
Andalusian Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

Award for Commitment to Society and the Environment 2017
III Edition of the Wine Tourism Awards “Wine Routes of Spain”
Spanish Association of Wine Cities (Acevin) and Turespaña (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism of Spain)

Best Organic Production in Spain in 2014
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment.

Best Organic Company in Spain in 2006
Biodiversity Foundation and the Ministry of the Environment of Spain

Vineyard Work

The Robles Family Vineyard

At first glance, Bodegas Robles’ vineyards have the air of a wildly romantic garden, overrun by a layer of lavender, poppies, clover and wildflowers, buzzing with bees and other insects. However, like those meticulously planned gardens, there is nothing accidental about our vineyard. It is the result of years of research and it involves selecting a wide variety of native, short-rooted plants that serve to trap nitrogen in the soil around the vines.

We keep an ongoing dialogue and exchange of knowledge between the winery, the University and several national and international research centers. We have several long-term tracking studies underway and we have completed projects on the impacts of environmental factors and cultural practices and their contributions to wine quality.

Winery work

In the winery, the elaboration team led by the oenologist Rocío Márquez and the winery foreman Vicente Martínez Robles, pay special attention to the use of indigenous yeasts and physical processing of the wine. In this fashion, the fermentation of our wines is elaborated with indigenous yeasts which are present in the soil of the vineyard and reaches the winery attached to the skin of the grape. That is why the ecological care of our vineyard is so important: the yeasts are primarily responsible for the wine to express what it is, transforming the sugars in the grape must into alcohol. When one speaks about wines which manage to express an identity, the indigenous yeasts are regarded as almost a must do obligation.

In other words: elaborating wines which express a purity, the faithful reflection of the soil and varietal character of the grape. Wines belonging to their soil.

The contribution of Pilar Robles and Rocío Márquez to the winery, was recognised in 2014 and 2017 with the Great Diamond Prize of the International Wine and Women Competition (Salón del Gourmet “Gourmet Show”, Madrid), a competition which attempts to place true value to wines produced by wineries where women hold management positions or positions of responsibility.

Our team.

Work as regards the wine

The creation of meeting points between the creative sector and the winery have also been key factors in the communication and promotion strategy designed by Juan Bolaños, our marketing manager. Since 2011 we carried out the Keep an eye on your vine initiative,a genuine immersion for anyone interested in learning firsthand organic wine production. In 2012 we developed the labotelladelvino (the wine bottle), a new packaging line which updates the tradition of selling bulk wine with a reusable package that combines considerable care in design, technology with which the wines are transported and preserved and the reduction of the carbon footprint.

In 2015, labotelladelvino (the wine bottle) receives the first prize for best packaging line in the DEARTE Wine Awards (14th DEARTE International Fair, Madrid)

Cultivating research

Pedro Ximénez 1927, Best wine in its category at the AWC Vienna.

Brief History

Bodegas Robles was founded in 1927, the date in which our grandparents Antonio José and Pilar moved to this land in search of the best wine grapes. In this fashion, together they became intimately acquainted with the vineyards “la Toledana”, “el Canillo”, “Cabriñana” and “Cañada del Navarro”, located in the Sierra de Montilla and one of the best production areas.

Without the vision of Antonio José and Pilar, the quality of the Bodegas Robles wines would not have been possible. However it takes more than great grapes to make great wines. A great winery is also required and that’s where the work of our father, Francisco Robles, has been instrumental: in 1975 the construction of the current facilities on the outskirts of Montilla was carried out and when it made its final relocation from its original location in the town centre. It was at this time when the winemaking at Bodegas Robles what it is today was defined: a place where contemporary technology and traditional techniques come together.

In the late nineties, the third generation took over the reins of the winery. The siblings Pilar and Francisco Robles understand that, we are supporters of a return, rather than progress. In this fashion, it was decided that the principles of our grandparents must be upheld and the implementation thereof using the current best available. That is precisely what we found in organic farming.

In 1999 we contacted the Andalusian Ecological Agriculture Committee (now Asociación Ecovalia (Ecovalia – Ecological Value Association)) commenced on the road to a paradigm shift of the agrienvironmental model. At that time, the training available in Spain was scarce and Francisco Robles moved to Poio (Galicia) to attend an organic viticulture training course organised by the Vida Sana Association, which has been working since 1981 on organic farming. Later on, he attended various advanced specialisation courses on Organic Farming in Seville.

In 2001 was the moment to implement what has been learnt: the University of Cordoba oversees the research project in the winery and demonstrates that it is possible to implement organic viticulture in Montilla.

Cultivating organic grapes with the greatest intensity and quality of flavours and aromas that we know, overseeing its natural process and conveying all that wealth of the fruit in the wine.

In other words: we make wines belonging to their soil.

Pilar Robles in the vineyard.

We continue to learn.