Bodegas Ismael Arroyo-Valsotillo

Impressive winery, a set of excavated galleries, both old and more modern, in which one of the best wines of the Ribera del Duero ages.

UNBEATABLE visit to the ISMAEL ARROYO / VALSOTILLO wineries in Sotillo de la Ribera (Burgos) and very well accompanied by Miguel Angel Arroyo who together with his brother Ramón are the current owners of this beautiful winery where they make great wines. Although the day was not good, we went to one of the vineyards that are right next to the winery so that Miguel Angel could explain to me how these vineyards work and the different tasks they carry out in them depending on the season. Here everything is done naturally and they do not even use animal fertilizers because they do not want the vines to bear too much fruit, to increase the quality and concentration of the grapes so that later this is reflected in the wines they make. The path through the fermentation area quickly leads directly to the "JEWEL" of this winery, the "underground caves" that everyone who visits them talks about, because it is really a pleasure to be able to visit them knowing that they lie more than 30 meters deep in the mountain that defends the beautiful town of Sotillo de La Ribera. Through about 2 km of tunnels perfectly dug into the mountain (more than half with pickaxe and shovel of the old ones and the rest with a tunnel boring machine) we see the rest of the more than 1000 American and French oak barrels in which the wine matures, as well as the rest of the bottles in which these great wines finish their aging. All this carefully following the explanations of Miguel Angel so as not to lose any detail. I liked a lot about this visit and I was very impressed by the fact that there are no water leaks anywhere in the cave and all the walls are perfectly dry. As I said, a visit that is really worth it and that then culminates with a good tasting of the wines produced here, in this case a really good Reserva and a Crianza. I would like to thank Miguel Angel for his teaching, his patience and his good attention. Highly recommended, so we will have to come back.

One of the highlights of our trip in Ribera del Duero. A wonderful family owned winery with the most amazing and friendliest people working there. Shout out to Aurora who was so good in touring us the place. There wines were impeccable.

I had a private tour of this family run wine cellar and it was well worth every penny spent. The labyrinth of tunnels in the adjacent hill are home to a myriad of wine cellars, each with a unique story to tell. If you don't suffer from claustrophobia do the tour. The prize is at the end when you try 3 wines from the cellar as well as a local snack of cheese and cold cuts.

Excellent experience with our tour and wine tasting at Bodegas Ismael Arroyo. The tour, hosted by Miguel Angel Arroyo, was fascinating and showed many details about the cultivation, collection and bottling of an exceptional wine stored in its underground cellars! Many thanks to Ramón Arroyo for his attention in the shop and his help in choosing our wines! Highly recommended, both the place and the quality of its wines!!

What an amazing winery! When you pull up to the site you are taken in by the beauty of the scenery, but that's simply the beginning. The magic begins at the doorway of one of these cellars. Once inside, you'll be captivated by the maze of tunnels lined with wine barrels. The tasting and tapas at the end was a great finishing touch. Oh, if you have thin skin, bring a light jacket. It's chilly down there.

Charming multi generational vineyard with extraordinary caves for winemaking using traditional methods. Personally, I liked the rose the best and it happens to be their most affordable.

Unbelievable!!! I cannot imagine how anyone would not be thoroughly impressed with the magnitude of the wine caves here!!!??? If you go to any Bodega in Ribera THIS is the one. Outstanding history and walking through hand carved tunnels (Bodegas) from the 16th century is just mind boggling! Great wines also. Enjoy!!!

This winery, dating back to the 16th century, is absolutely spectacular. They offer guided tours that are well worth the visit. And the wine is very good.

I've known the Ismael Arroyo wineries for a long time through their Valsotillo brand, distributed by our friend José Cantó through his website nuevosvinos.es. So, on the occasion of our visit to Ribera del Duero, I had no choice but to take advantage of the opportunity and visit them. The best part of the visit was undoubtedly descending into the traditional winery excavated beneath the mountain. You'd never realize the great effort our ancestors put into extracting a product from the earth. I found it very impressive. Later, we arrived at the tasting and enjoyed the following wines: Reserva 2014 (40th anniversary), Reserva 2015, Reserva 2016, and Gran Reserva 2012. They were all excellent, truly as you can imagine, a tasting of such a high standard. We paid €20 for it, a price that seems high to me, but in line with the rest of the wineries in Ribera del Duero. I must say they opened a bottle of each wine for the seven of us who attended, and we were able to have seconds of whatever we wanted, which is very rare at winery tastings; apparently, wine is very expensive for them :-). So, a round of applause for ValSotillo, the wonderful facilities they have, and the service we received.