More than 4,000 travelers choose Bodegas Ismael Arroyo-ValSotillo because they are looking for a unique experience, and… what better experience than walking almost half a kilometer among barrels, 30 meters deep, immersed in the wine-making atmosphere of the 16th century, in a hand-excavated cellar and attended by the family themselves?
The history, the roots, the evolution of winemaking in a territory and in a family through the centuries, sparks curiosity and admiration, especially when supported by unpublished and real documents.
Watching the travelers’ reaction as they enter through the small wooden door into the immense engineering feat executed with pick and shovel in the 16th century by our ancestors… is priceless.
During the tour of the historic underground cellar, 30 meters deep and at 12 degrees Celsius, exclamations arise, as well as many questions and a desire to know more. Meters and meters of underground
galleries with marks of picks on the walls and where barrels of up to 4,000 and 6,000 liters of capacity were stored.
In the year 2023, ValSotillo has broken the record for visits with 4,228 travelers, of which more than half (2,168) come from over 30 countries around the world. Wine tourists from the United States are predominant, but we also often receive visitors from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands… Even from remote places like Australia, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, or the Philippines.
The 2,060 national visitors also come from all over the territory; Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Levant, and Andalusia, although we also receive visitors from Galicia, the Canary Islands, and from our own community, Castilla y León.
In our underground cellar, the ValSotillo wines undergo sustainable aging (natural temperature and humidity). The vineyard is also worked sustainably, ecologically, because we never use herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, or irrigation. The family conducts very personalized visits. We are experiencing a continuous growth in wine tourism, much more evident since 2022, and we are proud to be part of the Ribera del Duero Wine Route, which remains the third most visited in the country, with 368,537 visitors.
