The family Muga Barahona was the precursor of what today is called Bodegas Berceo. At that time, the winery was created as a family business which didn´t even have a commercial name. At the beginning, a small winery was built in a little plot owned by the family. This piece of land is known as “Heras de Santa Lucía”. Some decades after it was founded, in 1863, the French vineyards were being devastated by the phylloxera (a little plant flea that gets attached to the leaves of the plant and also in the roots of the vine, licking the sap so that the plant not only gets harmed but also ends up dying). Because of this reason, the French vine growers had no other choice but to search in different growing Spanish areas, until they found La Rioja. This region is located in the northern part, which is cooler and where there are perfect conditions to elaborate wine. At this moment, Luis Muga Barahona owned some lands in the city of Haro, and when a Bordeaux native called Guy Hageman saw it, he was amazed. He decided to buy the lands of Luis Muga so that he could build in 1872 the first winery of the city of Haro. This is what we know today as Bodegas Berceo. Hageman decided to design a winery according to the Bordeaux style, in such a way that it would be possible to work with the help of gravity along the entire winemaking process. This way, it was possible to avoid any manipulation and guarantee top quality. This winery seems to be taken from Chartrons neighborhood in Bordeaux, and has had several owners until Gurpegui Muga was able to get his property back in the fifties after a lot of effort. The winery is named after Gonzalo de Berceo. He was a monk and a poet in the XIII century, who used to live in Suso Monastery (La Rioja). He was the one who dared to write the first verses in Spanish language, in which wine was the main topic. This fact took place in a context when Latin was the only language considered to be highbrow, and when Arabic and Basque were the main languages of the area.
