Bodegas Marqués de Riscal

[1] The company was founded by Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, 6th Marquess of Riscal in 1858 after inheriting a series of wineries in Elciego from his father.

[3] The company owes its name to the eponymous hereditary peerage title, which had been granted by Philip V of Spain to Baltasar Hurtado de Amézaga, a lieutenant general that was governor of Málaga and was distinguished in service in Spanish Flanders and in the Battle of Zenta.

He was residing in Bordeaux when he received the order from the Provincial Council of Álava to hire an oenologist who could teach the region's growers the techniques used in the Médoc, to produce wines according to the French system.

Hurtado then sent "9,000 fully guaranteed vine shoots" to the Rioja Alavesa, of the following types: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Pinot noir, to experiment in their vineyards, where grapes had been grown of the Tempranillo and Graciano varieties.

In the 1895 edition of the International Exposition of Bordeaux, Marqués de Riscal became the first non-French winery to receive the Diploma of Honor.