In the wake of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Rioja Alavesa has become a destination for travellers with two pleasures in mind: great wine and extraordinary design. Planted in the most winery-dense town on earth, avant-garde hideaway Hotel Viura serves both by the gallon.
A cradle of Spanish winemaking for nearly 2,000 years, Rioja Alavesa has, in recent decades, found a new calling as a space for eye-catching ‘starchitecture’, with several of the region’s bodegas commissioning top designers to distil their liquid ambitions into unique landmarks. As it turns out, it wasn’t just winemakers who caught this design fever. Today, a small but growing crop of avant-garde hotels has taken root between fields of vines, standing toe-to-toe with the region’s most daring bodegas. One of them in particular is such pure architectural dope, we reckon it could dilate the pupils of the most hardcore design junkie you know. That place is Hotel Viura.
In the sleepy, grape-obsessed village of Villabuena de Álava – home to barely 300 residents yet boasting upwards of 45 wineries (that’s one winery for every seven residents, can you believe it?) – this four-star boutique hotel, brought to life by architect brothers Joséba and Xabier Aramburu, rises among a tight weave of honey-coloured stone houses like a giant neoplastic sculpture, dropped from outer space. A deliberately awkward pile of cuboids, it leans and cantilevers above the quiet street in ways that seem to test gravity as much as the tastes of traditionalists. By all appearances, the structure should feel at odds with the 18th-century church next door. Yet the two stand side by side as unlikely companions, new neighbours caught in a balancing act between past and present.
This exploration of old meets new continues indoors, where various remnants have been preserved to anchor the otherwise entirely modern property with the natural geology and history of this world-famous wine region in north-central Spain. Behind reception on the ground floor within the hotel’s subterranean wellness space, for example, the original rock formation of a hillside has been folded into the design; meanwhile, pockets of greenery, tranquil terraces with sweeping views, and broad windows that draw in sunlight temper the interior’s harder lines, giving it an almost solarpunk vibe. And the deeper you go, the deeper the hotel’s roots extend. Below ground, its cellar absorbs sections of a centuries-old network of tunnels said to have been used for wine ageing, food storage, and refuge during times of conflict.
The decor at Hotel Viura overall leans into ultra-contemporary industrial minimalism that foregrounds raw materials and textures – exposed concrete ceilings and floors, sculpted wood surfaces, blown glass ornaments, and blackboard walls with room numbers written in chalk – creating spaces that feel closer to a warehouse-turned-gallery for turtleneck-wearing art lovers, than a rural countryside retreat. Art is king here. Sculptural cubist forms appear throughout the ground floor, echoing the building’s stacked exterior, while paintings and installations punctuate walls and corners against a palette of mostly neutrals that occasionally erupt with vivid colour.
We loved the unpredictability of the place. Head towards your room after check-in, and you might find a solitary armchair plonked in the corridor under a spotlight, begging you to sit and contemplate life; settle in for dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, Bistró Barrica, and you’ll notice repurposed wine barrels hanging above you – a not-so-subtle nod to your setting while you tuck into seasonal Basque-Riojan dishes like grilled white tuna with vine shoots, and roasted lobster swimming in a delicious crayfish bisque. Come late afternoon, when you’re full to the brim with Basque food, local wine, and enough design eye-candy to spike your blood sugar, Hotel Viura offers 35 rooms to slow down and digest it all.
‘Industrial Zen’ is how we’d best describe our deluxe room. A 32 sqm (344 sqft) sanctuary of calm, it seemed to intentionally dial back the topsy-turvy-ness found elsewhere in the hotel, replacing it with something far more meditative – although it can almost tip into bunker-like and uninspired with certain design choices. The room was generously spaced and uncluttered, with a king-sized bed and just a handful of carefully placed furnishings tying everything together: a low armchair by the window, a wooden butcher-block desk (should inspiration strike), and two cubes for bedside tables that glow like futuristic human batteries, recharging us to 100% before sundowners at the rooftop lounge.
Photography by Bradley Burke and courtesy of Hotel Viura
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While you’re OutThere
So you’ve found yourself in the village with the highest concentration of wineries in the world. Where do you even start? Visiting them all would require serious stamina (and maybe a very forgiving liver), but if there’s one address you absolutely shouldn’t leave without exploring, it’s Bodegas Luis Cañas. Just a short stroll from the hotel, this fourth-generation family-run estate offers guided tastings and cellar tours that showcase Rioja Alavesa’s elegant Tempranillo-based wines. Should you find yourself already planning a return visit, the winery also runs its own members’ club that comes with a bunch of juicy perks.
