Labastida is a beautiful old village in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria in the Alavesa district of Rioja, northwest of the city of Haro. The coolest of Rioja's three subdistricts, Alvesa's Tempranillo achieves great finesse and often tastes more like Pinot Noir than like the heartier wines to the south. Growers in and around Labastida, now numbering 156 members, took ownership of a local winery in 1964 and run it as a cooperative to produce the wines of Castillo Labastida from grapes that they grow on 1375 acres. The vines average over 25 years of age. The winery is handsomely old fashioned on the outside but up-to-date inside. The young winemaker, Manuel Ruiz Pedreira, is the son and student of the foremost scholar-enologist in Rioja. Manuel qualified as a Technical Specialist in Viticulture and Vinotechnics and earned a degree in Enology at the School of Vine and Wine in Madrid. He worked at various wineries throughout Europe (including the renowned Bodegas Faustino) before joining the cooperative in 2000. He currently has overall responsibility for vineyard management and winemaking.

Rioja has had a healthy international wine trade since the 16th century; its wines were enjoyed throughout Europe and in the nascent American colonies. In fact, it was this trade with the Americas that established American oak as the preferred wood for barrels, a tradition that remains today. Rioja wine remained relatively unchanged until the 19th century. As phylloxera ravaged vineyards in France, many French winemakers moved across the Pyrenees to continue making wine and supplying the thirsty French market. The Frenchmen returned home after the phylloxera problem, was solved, but the export market for now French-influenced Spanish wines was strengthened.