Conzia is a return to the most secret origins of Rioja vermouth. The origins that the Martínez Lacuesta family began to write in 1937, when they pioneered vermouth production in La Rioja and ‘conzia’ was not a brand name, but the intimate name of a secret botanical formula kept in the cellar. Since then, each generation has understood the need to safeguard and respect a legacy that is now being reinterpreted with fresh eyes.

This reinterpretation has given rise to Conzia Vermut de Guarda, a special edition created to celebrate the company’s 130-year history. It fully recovers the original formula: an extract of 24 botanicals selected with the rigour of those who have learned to read nature as if it were their own language. The result is not a change in style, but a way of taking what we have always done at Bodegas Martínez Lacuesta to the limit.

Conzia is made from a white wine to which botanical extracts are added—the historic ‘conzia’ of the house—and is slowly aged in barrels, first in American oak and then in French oak, until it reaches the depth and texture we seek in a vermouth for ageing. In the glass, it is amber in colour with mahogany highlights; on the nose, it is intense, with notes of chamomile, gentian, citrus, vanilla and a hint of fine wood. On the palate, balance reigns supreme: restrained sweetness, subtle bitterness, freshness and a long finish that invites you to take your time.

We wanted to convey all of this in its presentation as well. The bottle is protected in a case that opens like a book, with two wings that reveal an interior of veiled skies that dialogue with the scene on the label. This is not an aesthetic whim: it is a way of presenting the bottle with the respect with which a legacy is presented.

The label continues that dialogue. It depicts a classic, almost liturgical scene, referring to the value that the original formula has always had within the house: something that is passed on, interpreted and cared for. This pictorial language — closer to a fresco than a conventional label — expresses the nature of Conzia better than words ever could: a creation that exists thanks to those who have protected it for generations and which, even today, retains an air of mystery.

But Conzia is, above all, a conversation between the old and the new: the same idea of vermouth that has been with us for decades, taken to a place where time is more important than haste. It does not seek to dazzle at the first sip; it prefers to unfold slowly, like those stories that are only revealed when one is ready to listen to them.

Conzia is a vermouth to be discovered slowly, designed for those who appreciate authenticity but are also open to the unexpected. It is in that middle ground—between memory and ambition, between the earthly and the almost indescribable—that Conzia finds its place. And where we understand that there are silences, and also vermouths, that only time can explain.