Luis Cañas Winery

History
Four generations behind a humble family.
Effort, determination, passion for doing things well and a clear philosophy oriented towards the vineyard. Four generations have written the history of our family, “Familia Luis Cañas”.

For over a century, our family has been dedicated to the production and sale of traditional young wines made using the carbonic maceration method (whole bunches). These were made in the Cueva de los Curas, an old winery dug into the ground and which is still part of the landscape of the area today.

In the past, the wines were transported by Carlos Cañas, father of Luis Cañas (who died in December 2019 at the age of 91), in carts pulled by mules crossing the Sierra Cantabria and the Montes de Vitoria to areas bordering Bilbao and San Sebastián, more than 100 kilometres from Villabuena.

In 1928, the founder, Luis Cañas, was born. A man of perfectionist character, a hard worker like few others, whose motivation was always the pride of achieving the best quality in his vineyards and, consequently, in his bulk wines, conquering the palates of the great wine merchants, who at that time were located in the Alhóndiga de Bilbao.

It was in 1970 when Luis Cañas came onto the market selling bottled wines from the growers, which until then had been sold in bulk. That same year, not far from the Cueva de los Curas, we created the winery that bears our name, and in it we poured our passion for the grape, the true creator of the highest quality wines in Rioja Alavesa.

1989 marks a new milestone in the future of our winery, when Juan Luis Cañas, son of Luis Cañas, takes over the reins. At 33 years of age, he brings a breath of fresh air to the winery, maintaining the work philosophy and family tradition thanks to his perfectionist and non-conformist character. This means that he is not content with producing very good young wines, but also begins to produce new wines, increasingly promoting aged wines.

In 1994 we opened a new and modern winery equipped with the best production systems. Since then, at Bodegas Luís Cañas we have not stopped working, constantly improving and expanding our facilities in order to continue improving the quality of our wines.
The personality of Juan Luis, one of the most restless and innovative winemakers in the country, and the experience and good work of the winery team have made it possible for our wines to be recognized worldwide with the most prestigious awards.