THE VIVANCO FAMILY
‘How can a single family have collected so much and in such an important way about the history and culture of wine, its technology and traditions?’ Hugh Johnson OBE posed this question after visiting the Vivanco Museum in Rioja. Certainly, the sheer size of the place, the diversity of items on display and the way the world of wine is introduced to all kinds of visitors (not just oenophiles) exceeds expectations.
Pedro Vivanco (1946-2016) was a key figure in Rioja. A stakeholder in many wineries, he was a leading purveyor of wine within the appellation but also traded table wines and ventured into other areas. He became a voracious collector of all kinds of wine-related objects and artefacts, from books and paintings to wine presses and corkscrews. His aim: to return to wine what wine had given to him. After the creation of the Vivanco Foundation in 2001, the Museum opened its doors in 2004 (vivancoculturadevino.es).
His legacy continues with his two sons: Rafael, who oversees the winery built next to the Museum, and Santiago, who is at the helm of the Foundation. Like a patron of the Renaissance (but helped by a team of 20 people), he oversees a documentation centre, a publishing house, and a wealth of cultural activities. The Foundation has established agreements and partnerships with a dozen institutions and bodies to promote wine culture, while the family has also funded archaeological excavations on their vineyard in Tudelilla in Rioja Oriental, and is now involved in a project to identify the DNA of the 2,000-year-old wine-grape seeds found at the site. Whatever initiative they choose to launch, the whole region benefits. AC