The St Gregory’s Cellar, one of the largest in Logroño, preserves its 16th century underground wine cave or ‘calado’ in perfect condition.
At present it houses part of the exhibition ‘The Way of Winetogether with the Espacio Lagares. This draft, together with the Rioja Culture Center and the Lagares Space , make up the golden triangle of wine tourism in Logroño and the Camino de Santiago as it passes through the city.
Underground cellars
The Riojan capital is largely explained by its relationship with wine.
The construction of underground cellars – calados – under the houses that formed the city and that today are what we know as Old Town it was a common practice as early as the 16th century. Then, families made their own broths for consumption.
The ‘calados’ or underground cellars, built in ashlar masonry, were able to preserve the ideal temperature for the production of those wines.
From the end of the 16th century, municipal regulations limited the passage of wagons through those streets in order to favor the final quality of the wine, since they considered that the constant rattling altered the calm and tranquility they needed.
The St Gregory’s Cellar is the longest of those that are preserved. It is located at the height of Ruavieja street, 29. Municipally owned, it is a true jewel of century-old wine architecture. Measure 30m long. One of the elements that make it unique is the 7m well located at its southern end.
Its rehabilitation allows us to discover how the people of Logroño at that time made and stored wine, with hardly any treatments and using the benevolent conditions offered by the subsoil of the city.
Other calados in Logroño
Several calados can be visited in old town Logroño:
La Reja Dorada. Mercaderes and Ruavieja streets intersection.
Casa de la Danza. Calle Ruavieja, 25 (entrance through San Gregorio).
College of Architects. Calle Barriocepo, 40.
UNED . Calle Barriocepo, 34.
Rioja Culture Centre. Mercaderes Street, 9.
Electra Gran Casino. Sagasta Street, 10.
Calado,16th century. Mercaderes Street, 10.
Engineers College. Plaza San Bartolome, 1.
Ruavieja Street, 29. 26001 Logroño.
