In 1930, Ricardo Pérez-Pérez, native of Rioja, returned from Chile and settled on the San Rafael estate in Laserna. At the time, the 160 Ha. estate was planted to vitis vinifera but was in considerable disrepair. It was Ricardo’s son, Ricardo Pérez-Calvet, an agricultural engineer by trade, who began recovery and resuscitation of the vineyard, and began producing wine for his own personal consumption. The family soon began selling grapes to local producers and quickly became one of the most important qualitative suppliers for Viña Real, CVNE’s Rioja Alavesa property.

In the late 1950’s, CVNE’s general manager, José Ángel Madrazo, began a project with Ezequiel García, CVNE’s head winemaker, to identify their top vineyard sites and suppliers for the production of CVNE’s top wines. García is arguably the most important winemaker in 20th century Rioja, and is known by the affectionate nick-name El Brujo or The Sorcerer. When Madrazo asked El Brujo who CVNE’s top supplier of grapes was, the legendary winemaker responded unequivocally “the vineyards in Laserna owned by the Villota family.” It is no mistake that the Viña Real Gran Reservas of the late 50’s through early 70’s were primarily sourced from the Villota family’s estate. Today, these wines are considered to be some of the most legendary wines ever produced in Rioja.