José Pizarro's seven days of food pairings for high street Rioja

We grabbed seven great everyday Rioja wines of different styles from the shelves, put them in the trolley, checked out and headed to Bermondsey in London, just south of the river Thames near Tower Bridge.

Waiting for us was celebrity chef José Pizarro, described by many as the Godfather of Spanish cooking and owner of a successful group of restaurants and eateries in London, southern Spain and Abu Dhabi, including three in Bermondsey Street SE1 alone (Lolo, José Tapas and Pizarro at Nos 102, 104 and 194 respectively).

He was ready to pair our high street selection with some of the signature dishes from his restaurants and career.

We hope these pairings will inspire you to buy a few bottles and get creative in the kitchen – Monday to Sunday.

Grab a copy of Pizarro’s most recent book, The Spanish Pantry: 12 Ingredients, 100 Simple Recipes (Quadrille, June 2025 – £28 via José Pizarro's website) and have a go at some Spanish classics.

A bit of flavour and comfort to get you through the week – without breaking the bank.

Monday

Tortilla from José Tapas

Red wine pairing: CVNE, Asúa Reserva 2020

Start the week with a classic dish paired with a classic bottle. The unctuous core of the tortilla de patatas – with or without the caramelised onions – that has been an all-time favourite of patrons at Pizarro’s tapas bar (and first venue), this year celebrating its 15th anniversary, has a perfect, effortless match in CVNE’s modern, everyday-classic oak-aged red.

An easy yet sophisticated pairing that’s all about no- nonsense, guaranteed satisfaction.

CVNE, Asúa Reserva 2020 | 93pts

£19-£21.75 Drinks Direct, Goedhuis Waddesdon, ND John, The Wine Society

Produced exclusively with grapes from estate-owned vineyards above 500m in Haro, this 100% Tempranillo lures you in with its seductive nose of violets, dried rose petals and tarragon.

The palate follows with structure but also freshness, balancing vivid acidity, juicy cherry and plum fruit, and broody touches of dark chocolate and coffee. Drink 2026-2030. Alcohol 14%.

Tuesday

Courgette carpaccio from Lolo

Rosé wine pairing: Ramón Bilbao, Rosado 2025

Affordability doesn’t need to translate into lack of flavour. One of the favourite dishes at Lolo by José Pizarro, the smoothly lit latest Bermondsey haunt of the Spanish chef, is based on the humble courgette, given a fancy carpaccio treatment and topped with buttery pine nuts, slow-roasted tomatoes and edible flowers.

It has been on the menu since Lolo opened in 2024 (currently £10 on the à la carte menu) and is going nowhere. It’s the same simple yet sophisticated simplicity in Ramón Bilbao’s Garnacha-based rosado – great value and refreshing allure, without loss of structure or texture.

Ramón Bilbao, Rosado 2025 | 89pts

£9.50 Co-op

Hands-down one of the best-value Spanish rosés on the high street: crisp and refreshing, superbly enjoyable yet structured enough for food.

Crunchy and well-defined cranberry, rhubarb, wild strawberry and white peach fruit mingle on the palate, outlined by an appetising saline rim. Drink 2026-2027 Alc 12%.

Wednesday

Gamba blanca al ajillo con huevos rotos from Pizarro

White wine pairing: Cosme Palacio, Glorioso Blanco 2024

What do you need on a Wednesday? A wholesome midweek dinner paired with a wine that’s easy but fine, fluid yet complex, sophisticated in a laidback kind of way.

You need a pairing that provides sustenance, is authentic and just reminds you that life is made of simple yet delicious things. By combining two Spanish basics – gambas al ajillo (prawns fried with garlic) and huevos rotos (runny fried eggs on a bed of french fries) – Pizarro created one of the signature dishes at his eponymous flagship restaurant and delivers just that hearty comfort.

A glass of Glorioso Blanco answers with invigorating freshness and salinity.

Cosme Palacio, Glorioso Blanco 2024 | 90pts

£11.50-£15 Reserve Wines, The Wine Society

A lovely blend of Viura with a touch of Tempranillo Blanco, in which crispy pear and clementine peel dominate the structured, vibrant palate.

There’s a salty turn of toasted almonds and preserved lemon, and it’s a touch unctuous and very juicy at the core. Gentle florality (hay, camomile) in the background. Lovely presence on the mid-palate, with width and a pleasant saline richness. Drink 2026-2027 Alc 12.5%.

Thursday

Mediterranean red prawn carpaccio from Lolo

Rosé wine pairing: Muga, Rosado 2025

With the weekend just around the corner you’ll want to keep things simple and fresh. Start getting into relaxation mode with this prawn carpaccio – seemingly easy to make, but a dish that will require patience and precision.

The secret is using the best ingredients only: super- fresh red prawns, juicy oranges and chilli. Or just head to Lolo to have it prepared for you! This is off the menu at this stage of the year (it’s not citrus season after all) but it will be back before long.

Pair with the rosado from Muga, a nuanced Garnacha- based pink that will pair perfectly both with the delicate flesh of the prawns and the pre-weekend mood.

Muga, Rosado 2025 | 91pts

£11.95-£16.99 Majestic, Martinez Wines, Waitrose Cellar, Waud Handford, The Wine Society

Delicate floral and herbal touches dance over cranberry, wild strawberry and pomegranate fruit. Top notes of rose and orange blossom are echoed on the palate, lifting the fleshy yellow and pink orchard fruit.

Voluminous and unctuous, yet with a zesty pep throughout. A blend of Garnacha with about 30% Viura. Drink 2026-2027 Alc 13.5%.

Friday

Clams & fino Sherry from José Tapas

White wine pairing: Montecillo, On the QT Bin 37 2024

Clams cooked in a fino-based sauce? Yes, please. Just the kind of simple-yet-special combination that will ease you into the weekend and it’s on rotation at Pizarro’s tapas bar.

The dish calls for a structured, poised white and the On the QT Bin 37 definitely meets the brief. It’s also, unquestionably, a special wine of which not many bottles are left. Grab yours while you can.

Montecillo, On the QT Bin 37 2024 | 93pts

£21.25 Waitrose Cellar

This delicious, rather unique expression of Garnacha Blanca hails from a single barrel selected by winemaker Mercedes García Rupérez and Waitrose buyer Xenia Ruscombe-King MW.

Structured and delightfully complex, the fleshy loquat, apricot and peach fruit is deftly topped by orange zest, acacia and almond blossom. There’s a peppery, tingling vibrancy to the finish. Drink 2026-2028 Alc 13%.

Saturday

Carabinero rice from Pizarro

Red wine pairing: La Rioja Alta, Viña Alberdi Selección Especial 2021

Wake up (not too early) on Saturday morning and head to the fishmonger. Saturday is the perfect day to indulge and splurge on top produce – such as some meaty, red-hued carabineros, wild-caught large deep-sea prawns prized for a meat that’s lobster-like in consistency but elevated in flavour.

Served with a rich, creamy rice accompaniment – as was once the case at Pizarro – it makes for a sophisticated yet filling dish that calls for a finely structured red with refreshing acidity at its core.

Go for La Rioja Alta’s Viña Alberdi Selección Especial, a wine that punches well above its weight (without ever getting tired) and delivers structure, finesse and drinkability in equal measures.

La Rioja Alta, Viña Alberdi Selección Especial Reserva 2021 | 93pts

£20 Waitrose Cellar

A beautiful expression of classical Rioja, 100% Tempranillo, perfect for elevated everyday drinking. The ripe cranberry, cherry and plum fruit is laced with notes of vanilla, cardamom, sage and powdered coffee.

The tannins are assertive but rounded and pave the way for the elegant and brightly spicy finish. Drink 2026-2031 Alc 14%.

Sunday

Marinated pork fillet from Lolo

Red wine pairing: Faustino, I Gran Reserva 2016

The marinated pork fillet now on the menu at Lolo is a special dish created to celebrate the 15th anniversary of José Pizarro’s first opening on Bermondsey Street in 2011.

It’s a rightful celebration of persistence and time, hallmarks of that cooking method – marinating – that requires foresight and patience. So think in advance if you want your perfectly marinated meat on Sunday.

The Faustino I has also greatly benefited from all of the time it has spent in the bottle and will work as a fine, savoury, earthy counterpoint to the meat and marinade. Sit back and get ready for another week ahead.

Faustino, I Gran Reserva 2016 | 93pts

£18.47-£25.95 Asda, Drinks Direct, Secret Bottle Shop, T Wright

While still a bit tightly coiled, even at 10 years old, this well-recognised Gran Reserva – a blend of Tempranillo with 8% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo – is already showing well-honed layering of dried tobacco leaf, coffee bean, liquorice root, prune and caramel.

Elegantly fragrant Earl Grey and Assam notes play in the background and linger on the savoury finish. Drink 2026-2036 Alc 14%.

Related articles

While a high-quality baseline determined the tone and rhythm of this report, some producers stood out through wines that not only scored well but also jumped from the glass for their idiosyncrasy and self-assuredness.

Their wines are, in some instances, immediately recognisable – often shamelessly compromising the premise of a blind-tasting exercise – possessing their own distinctive style while also being unmistakably Riojan.

Our list of standout producers therefore aims to celebrate not just quality but also identity.

Theirs are wines that combine a sense of time and place with a distinct personality, making the case for typicity beyond uniformity.

There are clear common denominators: expressiveness (both terroir and personal), purity, drinkability and technical ability.

All of these wines evoke a sense of personal commitment and craftsmanship supported by painstaking work, deep knowledge of the vineyards and an overlap of personal and historical narratives.

This lineup also highlights the fact that it’s possible to arrive at a destination via different paths – it’s all about the journey and the many encounters it allows. And Rioja is, in its very essence, a region forged by serendipitous turns of history leveraged by very different stakeholders.

These are producers whose wines invite further engagement and discovery.

Arturo & Kike de Miguel

Artuke
Baños de Ebro, Rioja Alavesa

Brothers Arturo and Kike de Miguel (see what they did with the brand name there?), took over their father’s vineyards and small winery in Baños de Ebro and have since been crafting some of the region’s most exciting and sought-after ‘new wave’ wines. The purity and expressiveness of their creations became apparent in how they performed in our report tasting.

The two farm about 25ha following biodynamic principles and have a terroir-first approach, eschewing all ageing-based classifications in favour of village- and parcel-specific bottlings, all under the Genérico (formerly known as Joven) classification.

Their wines combine fierce intensity with structural exactness and aromatic nuance; not unlike the brothers themselves, whose frankness and bonhomie is framed by broad shoulders and warmly thunderous voices.

While their village blends (Pies Negros and the carbonic maceration namesake Artuke) are among Rioja’s most insanely good-value modern wines, Artuke’s top single-vineyard labels – La Condenada and El Escolladero – are on the path to icon status.

Artuke wines tasted for this report
La Condenada 2024 98pts
Trascuevas 2024 98pts
El Escolladero 2024 96pts
Paso Las Mañas Paraje El Chorro 2024 96pts

Carlos Mazo Gutiérrez

Vinos en Voz Baja
Aldeanueva de Ebro, Rioja Oriental

One of the wines that most surprised and delighted at the masterclass we hosted at the Decanter New York Fine Wine Encounter in June 2025, to celebrate Rioja’s centenary, was Carlos Mazo’s Nace La Sierra.

It stood out for its levity and purity, and introduced the audience – more familiar with the traditional, classical style of Rioja – to the possibility of a different interpretation of the region, more focused, fluid, quieter. It’s not by chance that he decided to name his project Vinos en Voz Baja – ‘wines in a soft voice’.

The same quiet rusticity and gentleness of touch made Mazo’s wines shine in this report’s tasting. Both traits are evocative of Mazo himself, a softly spoken, unassuming winemaker, completely committed to land and family.

He works mostly with old-vine Garnacha (red, white and grey), with scattered and interspersed plantings of Pasera, Viura and Tinto Velasco.

The fruit is handled with remarkable subtlety, infused rather than extracted, allowing the varieties to shine through the prism of their specific location.

Mazo’s wines coax you into slowing down and engaging with a different way of doing things; although refreshing and supremely drinkable, their textural appeal invites time on the palate – and some good bread, thinly cut jamón and fragrant olive oil.

Vinos en Voz Baja wines tasted for this report
Barrio Pastores 2024 95pts
Costumbres Blanco 2024 94pts
Nace la Sierra 2024 94pts
Costumbres Tinto 2024 93pts

Sandra Bravo

Sierra de Toloño
Villabuena de Álava, Rioja Alavesa

One of our standout producers last year, Sandra Bravo easily earned a spot in our top lineup again. Her wines are immediately recognisable in the glass: elegant, upfront, crystalline and textural.

Their evolution since Sierra de Toloño’s first harvest in 2012 is also remarkable, showing ever greater confidence and increasingly lending more expressiveness to Bravo’s pristine technical ability.

After completing her studies, Bravo honed her craft in Bordeaux, Chianti, Marlborough, California and Priorat, she returned to Rioja in 2012 with equal amounts of emotion, drive, work ethic and critical thinking.

Knowledge and approachability are the foundations of her style, informed by emotion and technique, allowing her to interpret the more than 20 plots of old vines – mostly Garnacha – she farms on the rugged slopes of the Sonsierra region.

While technically pristine, Bravo’s wines never come across as ‘technical’ or ‘cold’; there’s indeed a comforting quality to them that reflects Bravo’s down-to-earth authenticity.

Classical approachability and elegant rusticity are possibly the best ways to summarise the essence of her wines – from her pure, poised so-called entry-level red and white (an outrageous steal at just €12 in Spain, about £20 in the UK), to her single-plot creations, of which there are many.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: wines such as the white Nahikun (‘desire’ in Euskadi) and Tereseño, from Garnacha planted in 1944, are among Rioja’s future (present?) classics.

Sierra de Toloño wines tasted for this report
Tereseño 2023 97pts
La Dula Garnachas de Altura 2023 96pts
Nahikun Blanco 2024 95pts
Sierra de Toloño Tinto 2023 94pts

Victor Ausejo

Alberite, Rioja Oriental

Victor Ausejo’s trajectory was unusual from the outset. The son of an experienced Rioja viticulturist, he never liked viticulture and began working as a plumber.

However, when work dried up, he found himself working towards a degree in viticulture and winemaking in Logroño; and while studying, the wine bug bit him hard. While gaining experience at Vivanco and Gómez Cruzado he started to set his sights on making his own wines.

Here again, his path wasn’t obvious. In 2014, his father convinced him to regraft a family vineyard of Tempranillo with Garnacha Blanca, anticipating (correctly) increased demand for white grapes in Rioja.

Little did he know that this would become one of his son’s specialisms. In 2016, Ausejo planted two more hectares of the variety; in 2018, the first Victor Ausejo Garnacha Blanca was produced. It wasn’t until 2021 that Ausejo produced his first reds.

Today, he works with Garnacha, both white and red, and Mazuelo to produce a boutique range that’s unique in its energetic grip and electric tension. Ausejo calls his tiny winery a workshop, a place of experimentation and discovery.

Victor Ausejo wines tasted for this report
Garnacha Blanca Vino de Clavijo 2024 96pts
Garnacha Tinta 2023 96pts
Mazuelo Vino de Alberite 2023 96pts
Parcela 333 2024 95pts

Muga

Rioja Alta

With the third generation now at the helm, Muga continues to evolve, not resting on its many laurels, and not taking success or status for granted. Ultimately, this is part of Muga’s enduring appeal: an unpretentious classicism and authoritative humility.

The evolution of the range has been both a response to market demands and a refinement of the house style.

Alongside long-standing classics such as Torre de Muga and Prado Enea now stand Muga’s flagship white and rosé (both dubbed Flor de Muga), whose development in the past decade itself reflects ongoing fine-tuning and self-questioning – while staying painstakingly true to a recognisable identity.

A meticulous approach is paramount, in the vineyard as in the cellar. With help from the University of Salamanca, technical director Isaac Muga and head winemaker Pablo Orio are conducting an extensive study of the soils in each vineyard parcel.

Meanwhile, Muga is the only winery in Rioja with its own cooperage, fastidiously selecting and maturing the wood for each barrique and foudre in-house.

Clarification of the wines is still done with egg whites and racking (transferring between containers) is done by gravity only – the approach is low-tech, high-detail and craft-heavy.

Like other Rioja powerhouses, Muga also plays a crucial socioeconomic role in supporting a tight-knit network of small growers – something that makes its evolution and success very much a collective endeavour.

Muga wines tasted for this report
Flor de Muga Blanco Reserva 2022 97pts
Flor de Muga Rosado 2025 95pts
Torre Muga 2021 94pts
Muga Selección Especial 2021 90pts

More from the report

One of the main myths debunked by Rioja’s spectacular (and exciting) shake-up since the turn of the millennium, is that the region is synonymous with Tempranillo.

The ubiquity of high-yielding Tempranillo clones, replacing field blends where multiple varieties had grown alongside each other, is relatively recent; a process that happened in the last third of the 20th century.

It’s unsurprising, therefore, that with the backlash against the Rioja region’s ‘industrialisation’ coupled with renewed interest in origin and terroir came an interest in the vineyards and varieties of yore, and in the once-dominant Garnacha in particular.

And it’s certainly not by chance that many of the Vino de Municipio or Viñedo Singular wines submitted for tasting for this year’s report were either single-varietal or Garnacha-led blends – you’ll find plenty here.

Nuance & precision

And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Garnachas being produced in Rioja are marked by nuance, precision, delicious drinkability and an ever greater sense of place.

Those are, ultimately, the purposes of the renewed interest in the variety.

‘It surprises me that Garnacha from Rioja continues to surprise – if that makes sense!’ says Beth Willard.

‘There’s been a focus on Garnacha for quite some time and there have been wonderful wines bubbling away under the surface. Perhaps the really interesting, more recent development is the advance of more specific identities for different sub-regions, even different towns.’

Handled by mindful winemakers, Garnacha has a notable transparency, expressive of both origin and winemaking philosophy.

The realisation has impacted on the region’s wines more broadly – there are echoes of this newfound fragrant lusciousness in the finesse and genius loci (‘spirit of place’) gained in recent years by the Crianzas and Reservas (and to an extent even Gran Reservas).

Reversing genetic and historical erosion is not only a tale of Garnacha: it also explains Rioja’s ‘White Revolution’ , as well as the exploration of other red varieties.

Mazuelo once again performed well in our tastings, with standout examples really showing the grape’s balance of elegance and rusticity.

And we had a surprising flight of Maturana Tinta wines: a modest but clear prelude of better things to come.

‘There are many really interesting Maturanas, but it is a variety that still has a way to go in terms of finding its identity and a connection with the final consumer,’ concludes Willard.

The wines we tasted suggest that it’s a worthwhile quest.

Garnacha & friends: Highlights from the 2026 Rioja Report

Garnacha

Mazuelo

Maturana Tinta

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

The ‘Genérico’ category of the Rioja classification system has been the stage for Rioja’s spectacular evolution in the last couple of decades.

It’s here that, without the corset of (in some cases arguably obsolete) rules for required periods of ageing in wood and for vessel types, producers have found the space to experiment and (re)discover the essence of the region and assert their own identities and styles.

This explains why so many of Rioja’s most exciting new wines – including most of this report’s top-scorers across categories – come without a Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva stamp.

As you will see in this section’s wine selection, and in those that follow, this has been the fertile ground for the growth of a diverse, riveting landscape of wines that explore terroir and varietal diversity – from fragrant Garnachas and alluringly rustic Mazuelos, to the new village and single-vineyard wines.

Genérico is also, inevitably, the stage for the many and urgent reinterpretations of Tempranillo, reflecting the wider, ongoing explorations of terroir, looming concerns about climate change, and the ever more confident assertiveness of personal identities in winemaking.

In this selection of wines, we see a region in fast but quiet motion, looking for excellence in simplicity and diversity through the lens of purity and nuance.

Freedom of expression

Here, boutique and powerhouse producers mingle in a quest for authenticity that creates an understanding of Rioja that’s at once more diverse and more clearly defined.

The result is a more focused and expressive use of the Tempranillo variety, not as an end in itself but as a tool to convey time, place and philosophy.

Approachability, fluidity and definition are balanced by a very Riojan rugged elegance.

And it’s also great to see producers leaning confidently into the character of each vintage, prioritising the ‘truth’ of the fruit rather than winemaking or style.

On the other hand, the decision of when to release each wine is itself a stylistic choice – the contemporary release of Tempranillos from the troubled yet promising 2024 vintage, of the superb 2021, and of mature, still vibrant 2015s and 2016s is yet another sign of the unique dynamism of Rioja.

Always complex, never boring.

Highlights from the 'Generic' category: 2026 Report

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

The fast-evolving rosé wine offering from Rioja shows such an interesting, multifaceted side of the region, deeply rooted in tradition while also nodding to modern trends.

However, most producers still seem to approach the category tentatively, as if to do so would require them to choose between classicism or hipster cool.

They shouldn’t worry: the fact is that Rioja’s pink-hued tradition is inherently fashionable now.

We definitely want to see a bigger rosado/clarete lineup in our annual tasting next year!

Among those that bravely stepped forward in 2026 were the delicious, characterful examples highlighted below.

Rosados and Claretes: Highlights from the 2026 Report

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

The allure of Rioja’s barrel-aged Crianza and Reserva wines has always been their consistency and unpretentious, approachable classicism.

This is increasingly the case, as producers have further honed their use of wood, no longer relying on it as a crutch (to mask poor-quality wines), but rather leveraging it as a sophisticated frame.

The showing for both categories in our tastings this year was remarkable, especially when the quality and character of the wines is considered alongside their price tag.

Beth Willard articulates it clearly: ‘The value of these wines is astonishing; particularly those priced in the €15-€30 range [in the Spanish domestic market], which will buy you something that would likely sell at double the price if it were from another region.’

Core identity, renewed flair

If the price tags are friendly, so are the wines themselves, poised yet deliciously drinkable, classical yet approachable and fun.

It’s great to see these categories evolving while retaining their identity and intrinsic appeal; and to see stylistic differences emerge, yielding wines that are interesting and characterful.

‘The diversity of styles among the Crianzas is impressive,’ says Willard, ‘as well as the fresher, brighter nature of the wines. Sure, there’s still plenty of classic oak cues – offering reassurance – but there is less reliance on wood.’

Freshness and elegance were indeed the recurring attributes of our favourite Crianzas and Reservas, with the quality of the fruit supported rather than obscured by the oak influence.

It was also interesting to see the Crianzas and Reservas outscore the Gran Reservas – an indicator of the slow (but sure) evolution of Rioja’s most traditional styles.

These wines remain at the core of Rioja’s identity.

That they are becoming ever more exact, nuanced and refined speaks to the fruitfulness of the internal, creative tensions mentioned in this report’s introduction.

As Pablo Franco of DOCa Rioja put it, the future of Rioja requires ‘evolving beyond traditional [wood-aged] styles without losing them’.

If Rioja’s Crianzas and Reservas are supposed to be a place of comfort and guaranteed satisfaction for wine lovers, they are certainly meeting the brief, with renewed character and flair – these are wines that deliver more than expected, seemingly without trying too hard.

Crianza & Reserva: Highlights from the 2026 Report

Crianza

Reserva

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

The take-up of the Vino de Municipio and Viñedo Singular categories introduced in 2017 – effectively building a Burgundy-like regional hierarchy in Rioja, operating concurrently with the long-standing wood ageing-focused categorisation system – has been less than unanimous among producers, decision makers and commercial stakeholders alike.

It’s understandable that, amid ever growing market instability and social media noise, stakeholders would be fearful of adding another level of complexity to the story behind each product.

I would suggest – and the wines so far released with a village or vineyard-specific stamp seem to support this hypothesis – that these fears completely miss the purpose and value of this still relatively new proposition.

It should be seen primarily as a tool of internal research development – concerning Rioja’s overall identity as well as its technical aspects – that helps to build and define ‘brand Rioja’.

The new regional categorisation has catalysed a much clearer understanding of Rioja not as a monolithic entity but as a system that contains multitudes; a place with a strong, multifaceted character made of nuance and depth.

Advancing the region

While tasting for this annual report, Beth Willard and I felt vividly that the renewed focus on terroir ultimately benefits Rioja as a whole – not least the producers so far not engaging with the geographical classification system.

Its implementation, and the heated debates around it, have catalysed more attunement to detail, given licence to more exploration in winemaking and carved space for different terroirs and grape varieties to emerge (or re-emerge).

These site-specific wines indeed help to underscore the variety of styles and grape varieties that defined Rioja prior to Tempranillo’s dominance.

The Garnachas, Mazuelos and Gracianos seen here – and many of the standout white wines that also bear the Vino de Municipio and Viñedo Singular stamps – are testament to that.

Vino de Municipio & Viñedo Singular: Highlights from the 2026 Report

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

‘Rioja is truly starting to cement itself as one of the great white wine regions in the world,’ says Beth Willard.

‘The work of the past decade is coming to fruition with experimentation around styles, varieties, recuperation of old vineyards and planting of new ones all coming together in a real sense of place. Producers seem more comfortable than ever in their own styles.’

The turnout of whites was, not unexpectedly, remarkable – and certainly a step up from last year’s.

If in 2025 we noted that there was a significant number of samey, less-than-exciting bottles (technically correct wines but somewhat lacking in identity and regional typicity), one year on this was decidedly not an issue.

The sense of experimentation we previously felt lacking has now begun to percolate through from the red cohort.

Hopefully this will soon translate into more varied use of fermentation and ageing vessels, as well as wider, more confident personal imprint – which is the hallmark of the outstanding top-scorers in this selection.

The latter are world-class new classics, both from established and maverick producers.

These are forged when, in lieu of trying to fit a generic white winemaking matrix, producers deploy their own interpretation of time and place.

A similar process is happening with the red wines, as the selections in the following pages will illustrate further, but the evolution of Rioja’s whites has been so dramatic, intriguing and fruitful – and so relevant, even beyond the context of the region itself.

World-class potential

The white Rioja category captures, with particular vividness, the different catalysts of Rioja’s current dilemmas and opportunities: the ever more granular understanding of terroir; the different interpretations of classicism versus modernity, tradition versus innovation; the need to spread the word about the premium offering it already has, as made obvious in this report.

The quality of the wines speaks for itself, with textural appeal, structural poise and layered aromatics as common denominators.

‘The trade and consumers will benefit from recognising the outstanding quality and diversity of styles that exist now, and that white Rioja is not a one-trick pony,’ Willard concludes.

One thing we’ll be looking out for in future reports? More Maturana Blancas. The variety is being actively reintroduced by producers and has so much potential to deliver word-class and truly Riojan white wines.

White Rioja: highlights from the 2026 Report

Full score table coming soon

More from the report

The year after its momentous centenary celebration, producers in DOCa Rioja are going through what some might call a ‘post-celebratory hangover’.

But others – including my fellow tasting judge Beth Willard and I – see it as a moment of exciting development and, crucially, an opportunity to establish a new kind of relevance for Rioja on the world stage.

What does this moment look like? We see it as a point of inflection, in which Rioja’s winemakers become more confident in the quality and character of their wines and the spotlight shines on both small and big names.

New headliners

Last year was not merely a token landmark anniversary.

The centenary coincided with never-before-seen quality levels and the coming of age of a bubbling community of maverick independent growers whose wines – some of which topped this annual report’s scoring charts across categories – questioned where Rioja was heading by reminding everyone about where it had come from.

This year’s report is witness to a new canon that is steadily establishing and framing itself, built from strong historical foundations while animated by a sense of benevolent dissent.

If one of the sections in last year’s Rioja guide report focused on the unsurprisingly standout performance of the long-standing classics of the region, this year a new cast of protagonists (the classics of the future?) has fully come into focus.

It’s an exciting, satisfying validation of many producers that we have long been rooting for and are now topping the score charts (and, in some cases, the investment market spreadsheets).

Overall, this has allowed stylistic expressiveness and character to develop, while also consolidating a more layered yet cohesive portrait of Rioja as a region of great (and significantly differing) terroirs and wines.

In front of these producers is a make-or-break challenge. We circle back to the idea that this is a tipping point for Rioja; leveraging this explosion of potential relies on the ability to deliver what Pablo Franco, technical director at DOCa Rioja, himself identified as a key goal: to support both small producers as innovators and big producers as consolidators, while allowing an overall balance of legacy and progress.

Creative tension

This means embracing an inevitable tension between different – but certainly not incompatible – ideas on typicity and style in Rioja’s wines.

Evolving beyond the traditional age-based categories is necessary; but so is the preservation and fine-tuning of those categories.

If stylistic freedom, based on a vineyard-first purity principle (see Stylistic variations with the 'generic' category and Vino de Municipio & Viñedo Singular), is yielding remarkable wines, equally of note is the finesse and identitarian strength (and outstanding value) of Rioja’s Crianzas and Reservas.

There’s a gradual but inevitable recognition that those differences are not, as perhaps many once thought, contradictions – they are rather expressions of the inherent complexities of a region that has evolved steadily through its long history, forging a strong heritage while never shying away from innovation and progress.

Perhaps the most obvious expression of this magnetic tension is the different attitudes towards the Vino de Municipio and Viñedo Singular categories introduced in 2017, implementing a geography-based quality pyramid in parallel with Rioja’s long-standing ageing-based categorisation.

The quality of the increasing number of wines released with these top-tier regional stamps fully justifies their creation – which ultimately, in the view of myself and Beth, helps to better contextualise the region’s other categories.

Explore the full 2026 Rioja Report

There’s a stretch of road I always dread when I’m on my way to Rioja from Castilla y León.

As the highway approaches Burgos, hundreds of trucks snake their way from the south of Spain towards the Basque Country, heading to the north-coast port of Bilbao.

Weaving in and out of this endless queue is exhausting. But exit 57 towards Pancorbo offers much welcome relief. The N232 meanders through the province of Burgos before giving way to La Rioja as the valley sweeps into view.

The road is quiet and gently winds its way eastwards, in the shadow of the rocky Cantabrian mountains to the north and the Sierra de la Demanda in the south.

In spring, a patchwork of green and yellow covers the valley floor as bud burst awakens the vines and vibrant rapeseed flowers come to life, and in autumn the fiery red and amber of the vine leaves form a kaleidoscope of colour.

It’s a majestic landscape, rooted in permanence yet alive with renewal.

Given its centuries of viticultural heritage, Rioja presents a somewhat surprising sense of dynamism and energy rarely found in the world’s most traditional regions.

A new wave of small growers and a younger generation are making vineyard-focused wines; indeed, a tasting in March in Madrid by VIR (Viticultores Independientes de Rioja) offered a diverse and fascinating overview of these producers.

Many of these wines fall outside the traditional classification system (Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva), many simply defaulting to the catch-all Genérico designation and embracing the new geography-based Rioja classification pyramid.

Yet in the broader market, both domestically and internationally, it’s often the larger, well-established or historic Rioja houses through which most consumers get to know Rioja.

Historic wineries such as Marqués de Murrieta, CVNE and Marqués de Riscal boast histories that date back well over 100 years.

In the 1980s, Roda became a new member of the band of bodegas in the old Barrio de la Estación in Haro and has helped build brand Rioja alongside its neighbours La Rioja Alta and Muga.

Staying relevant

So how do you adapt to changing tastes and a shifting wine scene?

Many wines have already achieved a high level of success through recognisable styles and critical acclaim.

For Victor Urrutia, owner and CEO of CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España), the key is remaining relevant.

‘For us, it means perfecting the old, for instance our Gran Reservas, and inventing the new,’ he explains. ‘It sounds dramatic but it is quiet work, interpreting our vineyards as faithfully as possible, and through a different lens. That is how Contino got started 50 years ago as Rioja’s first single vineyard.’

And what is today’s fresh, modern interpretation of those vineyards?

Contino, Don Vicente is a single-varietal wine made from a single plot of Mazuelo. It’s one of only a few wines in Rioja made solely from this variety, which producers are finding to be well suited to the changing climate.

As a late-ripening grape that retains acidity and is quite sturdy in the face of drought, Mazuelo offers potential beyond its classic blending capabilities.

Don Vicente 2021 is only the fourth vintage released and offers something surprising under the reassuring umbrella of the Contino brand.

‘So in effect,’ says Urrieta, ‘we side-step the issue of changing a well-established reference.’

It’s a similar story for Torre de Oña, part of the group of wineries belonging to La Rioja Alta, which has now produced two vintages (2021 and 2022) of El Camino, a refreshing, elegant wine with serious poise and a chalky texture from parcels in Elvillar, far removed from the very recognisable, classically oaked styles of Viña Ardanza 890 and 904 from La Rioja Alta’s iconic range.

‘For a winery like La Rioja Alta, to innovate is not a challenge but a necessity,’ says head winemaker Julio Saénz. ‘To keep defending a style means you have to adapt to new situations like climate change. In the case of El Camino, the vineyard determined the style.'

Rooted in change

For Luis Hurtado de Amézaga (pictured, above), technical director of Marqués de Riscal and sixth-generation of the bodega’s founding family, the future of his winery and the region lies in its soils.

Founded in 1858, the winery has a storied tradition of producing fine wines and impressive stocks of old vintages in its underground cellars, but for Hurtado the key to the future lies in its vineyards: ‘Only a living soil is capable of reflecting the personality of the terroir in the wines and enhancing their varietal character.’

Hurtado has overhauled the winery’s viticultural practices with a ban on herbicides, a new regime of cover crops, organic compost and a keyline planting system to combat erosion and improve access to water on both their own terraces and those of their partner suppliers.

‘It’s all about improving the biodiversity and microbiology of the soils,’ he explains. ‘In this way, old vines can be maintained for much longer with viable yields and the ability to produce high-quality wines.’

A paler shade of Rioja

Developments in the vineyards also extend to a shift in colour.

Whites have always been planted in Rioja, often playing an important role in old, co-planted vineyards (in which different varieties grow beside each other) exploited by some of the most historic wineries.

But the success of Rioja’s reds in export markets saw the area of white vineyards decline dramatically: in 1985, there were 9,094ha of white vineyards; by 2005, just 4,645ha remained.

That year, the Rioja consejo regulador (‘regulatory board’) authorised the planting of new white vines and now there are about 6,000ha producing some of Spain’s most thrilling white wines.

One of Rioja’s most recognisable estates, Bodegas Muga introduced a new white into its portfolio with the 2018 Flor de Muga Reserva Blanco. Now in its fifth release, it’s a modern approach to an oak-aged white that blends Viura with Garnacha Blanca and Maturana Blanca.

Fruit-focused, the wine reflects a wider trend in the region towards serious whites that combine classic cues with a contemporary focus on freshness.

At the forefront of this movement was another foundational bodega of the Barrio de la Estación, Gómez Cruzado (founded in 1886), which released its first vintage of Montes Obarenes in 2013.

The 2021 vintage is a blend of Viura with Tempranillo Blanco, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca and Calagraño. It continues to be one of the most characterful white wines of Rioja.

Another Haro winery, Bodegas Roda, has also introduced a white wine to its range – Roda I Blanco – launched in 2022 with the 2019 vintage.

But it has also joined a growing number of producers championing serious, ageworthy rosés with the debut this year of Roda, Perdigón Reserva Rosado 2023 (see recommendations, below), a single-vineyard wine made from Tempranillo and Garnacha, and aged in French oak.

Beyond barrels

Oak has always been an important part of Rioja’s wines and continues to be the ageing vessel of choice, but the reliance on wood as the driving characteristic of the wines has certainly diminished.

Marqués de Murrieta is one of Rioja’s oldest and most prestigious wineries, so even its most subtle stylistic shifts merit scrutiny.

The mainstay of the estate, the red Reserva is more elegant and finer in its current incarnation than ever before.

The completion of the new winery in 2021 has allowed for a more precise and careful treatment of individual parcels, including fermentation in concrete and ageing in a custom-built barrel room designed for detailed and delicate evolution.

The move to a prettier and more refined style is perhaps even more noticeable in the Dalmau cuvée, which hasn’t lost any of its concentration but now offers supple tannins and an inherent minerality that points to its freshness and lighter touch.

The new classics

So, who is fanning these winds of change? Are smaller growers and modern wineries shaping future trends or are historic producers with established reputations leading the innovation race? Perhaps the answer is yes and yes!

There’s energy, experimentation and a sense of renewal across the whole region.

But it’s certainly important that these prestigious, world-renowned wineries are adapting and challenging norms – they have the trust of their customers and often the means to market these changes.

Regions evolve and adapt to changing circumstances.

‘To maintain a style doesn’t mean always doing the same thing,’ explains Julio Saénz. ‘It’s one thing to be resistant to change, but another to maintain a style.’

As he acutely observes: ‘All the innovation that we are undertaking today in La Rioja Alta – in 10 years it will be seen as tradition.’

The new, modern wines of today will surely become the classics of tomorrow.

Classic Rioja producers shaping the future: Willard’s pick of six

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This was different. My previous journeys to Rioja unfolded in summer. From Madrid, Barcelona or Zaragoza: treks through dusty landscapes of the sort Cervantes described, in light so bright and shimmering that windmills might indeed have seemed like giants with flailing arms. Not this time; winter was lingering. Rioja’s Centennial Celebration of the awarding of its denominación de origen on 6 June 1925 (more than 10 years before France’s appellations, note) took place in February 2026.

I arrived from Bilbao: a journey through the mountains. It had rained on and off for two months; platoons of mist manoeuvred amid the sodden parcels. When the sun shone, it threw lamplight on fierce indigo clouds. Finally, I could feel Rioja for what it is: a high-elevation region.

Spain, remember, is the second-highest country in Europe after Switzerland. Few vineyards here lie below 350m, higher than most in Burgundy, and Himalayan compared to Bordeaux; many lie at 900m or more. The average vineyard elevation in Rioja is 495m.

What I’d remembered accurately was the chaos of the landscape. Yes, it’s a broad valley, incised by the river Ebro; but the vineyards are rooted in terraces that rise and fall incessantly, a topographical rough draft. Vines thrive here: around 30% of Rioja’s 66,639ha are old plantings (the OIV definition: 35 years or more), with 600 vineyard parcels (182ha) certified as centenarian. Old vines may yield modestly, but they’re healthy, they’re content.

And the wines? Magnificent – or at least the ones we were shown the next morning were: I don’t remember a five-hour sit-down tasting more amply strewn with smile-inducing, muscle-softening wine pleasure. Still more came tumbling into our roomy Riedel glasses (16 each: my heart went out to the washers-up) at the gala dinner.

For affability, warmth and welcome, Europe has no fine red wines to match these; elsewhere in the world, only Napa comes close. Rioja’s genius is to combine gentleness and tenderness with generosity and grandeur, despite significant structure. Rioja doesn’t just endure, moreover, but builds beauty in time: a rarer quality. They’re the kind of red wines that, when you return to them after a sojourn away, you think ‘Why do I ever drink anything else?’

But I’ve set off on the wrong foot. ‘Rioja doesn’t exist,’ Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW (of whom more in a subsequent column) assured the hall full of tasters. ‘You have to add adjectives.’ He was drawing attention to growing differences of style. Climate change has made every grower ask questions and think again about site, about harvest and about balance; and the questioning of our old assumptions about oak (see my March 2026 column) hasn’t gone un-echoed in Rioja, though it’s still true to say that the relationship between oak (American included) and young, Tempranillo-based blends remains singularly successful here.

Our morning tasting was divided into a set of ‘new departure’ wines and magnificent older wines; the dinner set bridged these two worlds. No space here for extensive tasting notes, but in addition to the Queirón wine mentioned, below, new departures include the supple, perfumed 2024 José Gil from Vignerons de la Sonsierra; a fascinating pure-Benedicto wine (Benedicto is thought to be a parent, with Albillo, of Tempranillo) from Luis Cañas, unfinished but insistent; and Miguel Merino’s virtuoso 2022 La Loma from vineyards in Briones.

And whites? The oaky classics are splendid: Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay 1986 seduced us all, thanks to skill, wood and its cellar years. Swing the spotlight onto Viura as a young, fresh wine, though, and even the best underwhelm; they lack Tempranillo’s authority, complexity and command. Might greater use of other varieties help? It may not be hip to say this, but I love the Faustino white Gran Reserva – thanks to its Chardonnay component, which brings gold, cream… and Rioja’s old, enduring joy: tenderness and gentleness.

In my glass this month

Dominio de Queirón, Mi Lugar, Rioja 2021

The 2021 Mi Lugar from Queirón (ex-UK, £26 Vinissimus) is a ‘Vino de Quel’ – Quel being a village in Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja) lying at almost 500m, with its vineyards rising to 850m.

The pure-Garnacha El Arca is very fine, but emotionally speaking Mi Lugar (90% Tempranillo with 10% Garnacha) is more captivating still: cool-shot fruit, riffling with hill grasses and wild herbs, and finely structured on the palate. Subtle, vital and wild – but yes, finally tender, too.

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Despite the wonderful diversity of Spain’s wine regions, only a handful dominate the public consciousness on the international stage. Names such as Ribera del Duero, Priorat and Rioja attract a certain level of recognition, the latter so famous in some markets that it’s arguably more than just a region – it’s a brand.

But next door to some of Spain’s best-known regions, there’s a renaissance in local viticulture taking place, an explosion of dynamic producers, and some truly great wines.

The wine styles may not be a world away from those whose origins you already know and love, but small points of difference make them worth exploring. In some cases, the soils and climate vary just enough to change the structure of the wines; other neighbouring regions offer similar terroir but unique grape varieties.

So, if you regularly buy or cellar wines from the well-known regions listed here, why not look to their neighbours, which can often be a great source of value? Explore these new wines through the safety of something familiar yet different and enjoy their individuality!

Montsant

Next to: Priorat

Spanish retailer Vila Viniteca offers the current release of L’Ermita from Alvaro Palacios at €1,790 per bottle. It’s one of the most expensive wines in the Spanish market and hails from a single parcel of mostly Garnacha planted more than a century ago.

It’s an icon wine from Priorat, only about two hours’ drive southwest of Barcelona.

But the comarca (county/district) of Priorat contains not just one denominación de origen, but two, for it’s also home to the DO Montsant.

In fact, when you look at a map, you can be fooled into thinking that the Montsant region is the more important as it wraps around Priorat, encircling it like a school of greedy sharks.

It also shares its name with the Serra de Montsant, the mountain range that strikingly dominates the region’s skyline. In fact, it’s Priorat that’s the bigger of the two DOs, with 2,196ha of vines, compared to Montsant’s roughly 1,800ha.

With 117 wineries, Priorat has almost double the number of Montsant’s 59, and yet Montsant has just as long a tradition of winemaking.

In the town of Marçà, remnants of Roman amphorae have been found, likely destined for Tarraco, or Tarragona as it’s known today.

Mountain fresh

Montsant, however, didn’t enjoy the same revival as Priorat in the 1990s and 2000s, when some of Spain’s most famous winemaking names started to put the region back on the viticultural map.

As a result, it’s common to find bottles of Priorat that cost more than €50, whereas Montsant is more accessible – often below €15. More than 90% of the production of both regions is red wine, dominated by Garnacha and Cariñena.

In the case of Montsant, wines can also include Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha Peluda, Merlot, Monastrell, Picapoll Tinta, Syrah and Tempranillo.

Its whites are mostly Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo, but can also incorporate Chardonnay, Moscatel, Pansal (Xarel.lo) and Parellada.

The wines of Montsant aren’t as defined by the famous llicorella or slate soils found in Priorat, enjoying a variety of soils that bring complexity to their blends.

The climatic influences also vary from the cooler area in the mountainous north around towns such as La Morera de Montsant and La Figuera to the hilly landscape and warmer climate of Marçà and Capçanes, and finally the lower elevations in the south of Montsant around Darmós and Els Guiamets.

Mediterranean in profile, the wines benefit from cool breezes from the sea, which, from its closest point, is only about 35km away.

Approachable when young and capable of improving with time in bottle, wines from Montsant combine generous, ripe fruit with finesse and mountain freshness.

Ribeiro

Next to: Rías Baixas

Of Galicia’s five DOs, Rías Baixas is the largest, with 4,800ha of vineyards, about 97% of which is planted with Albariño.

Forty years ago, the region only counted 237ha of vineyards, but with the growth in popularity of the variety, both domestically and internationally, Rías Baixas has boomed.

In contrast, next-door neighbour Ribeiro extends over just 1,300ha of vineyards, although some historical sources suggest that a century ago there were more than 6,000ha of vines.

The decline in vineyard area can be attributed to several factors, including waves of emigration that saw the area suffer from severe depopulation, as well as the abandonment of low-yielding terraced plots, which became unprofitable as the price of bulk wine couldn’t match production costs.

The dominance of so-called minifundismo (a system of smallholdings) in wine-growing in Ribeiro also resulted in complicated vineyard management (as it still is).

But it’s the oldest DO in Galicia, with an ancient winemaking tradition that current producers are now channelling to make exceptional wines with unique personalities.

True terroir

The region is spread across the valleys formed by the rivers Miño, Avia and Arnoia, whose soils are varied but typically feature sábrego – decomposed granite that resembles sand and silt, and often brings an electric energy to Ribeiro’s wines.

More than 90% of production is white wine, with Treixadura the most widely planted grape (making up just over half of the total vineyard area), usually blended with Loureira, Godello, Albariño, Torrontés or Lado.

Other permitted varieties include Albilla do Avia, Branco Lexítimo, Caíño Blanco and Palomino (from existing plantings only).

Red varieties are also planted in Ribeiro, with blends often including Brancellao, Caíño Longo, Caíño Tinto, Ferrón and Sousón, the most-planted local red grape in the DO.

The white wines marry Atlantic freshness with ripe citrus, pineapple and stone fruit, supported by stony minerality and delicate herbal notes such as fennel and bay leaf. Reds offer vibrancy and tension, with wild strawberry, violet and peppery aromas.

They tend to be medium-bodied. Vibrant and concentrated when young, the wines are satisfying and versatile and can be enjoyed on a terrace in the sun or with Galicia’s rich and varied cuisine.

But like their Albariño neighbours in Rías Baixas, the wines really shine with some bottle age, developing greater complexity and a true expression of the terroir.

Arlanza

Next to: Ribera del Duero

In Spain’s northwestern region of Castilla y León, the town of Lerma is directly south of Burgos and north of the DO Ribera del Duero. It’s rich in history, with striking 17th-century architecture, including the Palacio Ducal, which offers views over the Arlanza valley (pictured).

The river continues east to the pretty medieval village of Covarrubias, known for its half-timbered houses and narrow streets.

It’s the gateway to Sabinares del Arlanza nature park, where ancient juniper trees line the deep river gorges along the Arlanza.

This is the backdrop to the Arlanza wine region, one of Spain’s smallest. Vineyards flourished here until the start of the 20th century, when phylloxera appeared and most of the vines had to be uprooted.

They were replanted, but not to the same extent. Later, waves of depopulation affected the area, as people left the land to work in the cities.

Until late last century, very few wineries remained but, fortunately, pockets of very old vines were left intact.

Rebirth and revival

Slowly, a rebirth of sorts began, with a handful of producers leading a revival.

In 1995, the group successfully petitioned for the classification of Vino de la Tierra Ribera del Arlanza, and eventually, in 2007, they formed the DO Arlanza.

With a profile that’s decidedly Castilla y León, the wines are similar in character to their neighbours in Ribera del Duero, generally displaying the fresher character of Ribera’s Soria sub-zone.

Due to its more northerly latitude and impressive elevation – generally 800m-1,000m, but in some places higher – Arlanza offers intense red wines that are kept fresh by notable acidity.

It’s mostly a region of red wines, dominated by Tempranillo, locally referred to as Tinta del País.

Txakolí

Next to: Rioja

On Spain’s northern coast, the Basque Country (Euskadi in the local language) is one of the most important domestic markets for Rioja wines, which is logical given the gastronomic richness of the Basque region, as well as the fact that it’s right next door.

In fact, part of the Rioja appellation lies within the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

Wine production in the area has a centuries-long history, but disease outbreaks (mainly phylloxera but also powdery mildew) in the late 1800s resulted in a significant loss of vineyards.

As a result, most of the production was reduced to coastal areas, where simple wines with some spritz and low alcohol became something of a local curiosity.

A renaissance began in the 1990s with the arrival of modern technology and a renewed viticultural interest in the region.

In recent years, there has not only been an explosion in the number of producers throughout the three appellations that are dedicated to the production of Txakolí wine, but new styles have also emerged.

White wine revival

The protagonist is still the principal local grape variety Hondarrabi Zuri, but the simple, spritzy whites have now been complemented by single-vineyard wines, richer and aged whites, as well as rosé, red and sparkling wines.

This increase in quality and diversity is part of a revival in white wine production and consumption in the northwest and north of Spain, where Rioja whites have also boomed in popularity.

It’s an important chapter in the story of Spanish gastronomy, of which the Basque Country was an early leading proponent.

Txakolí wines offer racier acidity and a more direct, citrussy palate than their counterparts in Rioja, where Viura dominates and creates white wines of serious weight and ageing potential.

But if you like the freshness and characterful nature of Rioja, it’s worth taking a small stroll to the north to try the wines that play such a central role in the lively bars of Bilbao and San Sebastián.

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As I write this, Beaujolais is in a flurry. Its first wines of 2025 – the fragrantly juicy Beaujolais Nouveau – are being sent out across the globe ready for the impending (and inevitably raucous) festivities on the third Thursday of November.

And while the folk from Beaujolais are the undeniable overlords of the nouveau party, they aren’t the only players out there dabbling in this vinous fountain of youth.

When you pull back the curtain, you realise there are people all over Europe, and even in the UK, that make their own versions of these new harvest wines.

A long history

Beaujolais Nouveau is merely the best known (modern) example of a much wider tradition of drinking brand new wines soon after harvest.

Nouveau wine, in its simplest terms, is a young wine that is bottled and released almost immediately after harvest. At times they are little more than fermenting must – such as Federweisser in Germany (known as Sturm in Austria).

In Beaujolais it is made with Gamay, which is low in tannins, using carbonic maceration – where the grape begins to ferment within the berry itself, promoting fragrant, perfumed fruit aromas. It is meant to be light in alcohol, juicy and easy going.

As Beaujolais producer Christophe Pacalet says, nouveau is ultimately an unpretentious wine that you can drink while you play pétanque.

Around France

As an inhabitant of southern France, I was intrigued to see whether this area, more famed for its heady reds, was getting on board with the style.

Jean-Philippe Padié of Domaine Padié in Roussillon has been making a nouveau wine since 2019. It was a bit of an accident; he had a plot of Syrah that went through fermentation quickly and cleanly, offering him a delicious rendition of a nouveau style.

Padié now works predominantly with the indigenous variety Lledoner Pelut, which he says gives an even lighter, crunchier wine, with a hint of something maritime from the vineyard’s coastal location.

Similarly, in the cooler northern reaches of the Loire, Joseph Mosse of Domaine Mosse makes a fuschia-coloured wine called Bang Nouveau from a blend of the pink-skinned Grolleau Gris and Gamay.

And while there is an argument that nouveau wines are best made with lighter-skinned varieties, Romain Le Bars in the Rhône Valley proves that this isn’t always the case. His dangerously drinkable Nouveau Nez cuvée is made from Cinsault, Grenache and Carignan.

Traditions old and new

Nouveau wines are popping up across France. However, there are other countries that have a deep-rooted history with this style of wine – Spain, for example.

Specifically in Rioja, where the wines are called cosecheros. Last year saw the launch of the first cosecheros tasting in London, hosted by Ben Llewelyn of UK importer Carte Blanche and writer Tim Atkin MW.

Here producers work with Tempranillo, foot crushing the grapes and using carbonic maceration. Like in Beaujolais, it is a style that is embedded in the culture, despite also falling prey to the tools of mass production such as thermovinification and commercial yeasts.

And while the Spanish perhaps don’t partake in the annual country-wide festivities, the Italians certainly do. Also released in early November, Italy’s answer is vino novello, also made with carbonic maceration and with a host of different grape varieties depending on the region.

Perhaps the most iconic in this mix is the Bardolino Novello from Veneto, which brings much joyous celebration to the shores of Lake Garda.

Sandridge Barton in Devon, UK, has been making its own nouveau wine since 1995. Spurred on by a disruption in Beaujolais supply during the outbreak of mad cow disease, they decided to try their hand at making one themselves.

Intriguingly, their nouveau was – and still is – a white made from the grape Madeleine Angevine (affectionately known as Mad Ange), chosen because it’s their earliest-ripening variety, going from vine to glass in just six weeks. This year spells their first release of a red nouveau made with Pinot Noir and carbonic maceration.

Balfour Winery has also adopted this new wave British tradition with its Essex-grown Pinot Noir Nouveau. Following the stellar conditions of the 2025 vintage, the estate’s head of wine Fergus Elias was keen to show that ‘English Pinot Noir has the ripeness, the fruit and the finesse to stand on its own’.

This is only the second vintage of nouveau, but with such excellent fruit to hand, they’ve made a wine that is ‘playful and purposeful’.

Down with the kill-joys

There are pessimists who want to put down nouveau wines simply as a marketing stunt or something to bolster cash flow. If that is indeed the case, then good on them. Hopefully everyone getting involved is making some much needed cash and shining a light on their region.

But I think it is so much more than that. As Llewelyn says, nouveau wines have historical relevance and value. In Rioja, they show the diversity of their grapes and region, they regulate supply – especially important in a place like Rioja where ageing requirements can extend up to five years – and they give affordable access to quality wines.

Isabel Fernández of Rioja’s Bodega Abeica says that these wines have been part of Rioja’s culture ‘since time immemorial’. Traditionally, they were made to be consumed within 18 months of harvest.

Her family has been making a cosechero wine for four generations, and she believes they can have good longevity and weight, so she uses a parcel of 100-year-old Tempranillo for her cuvée.

Echoing the sentiments of others I spoke to, she says that the crux of making a quality nouveau wine comes down to the quality of the fruit and the stems, especially when working with carbonic maceration and with low intervention cellar methods.

The biggest challenge facing nouveau producers? Poor quality fruit. Because in the end, the joy of nouveau – wherever it’s made – lies in its immediacy. It is a snapshot of a harvest that ultimately takes no prisoners.

Playful frivolity

From conversations with winemakers, it’s clear that these wines are moving into a realm of quality and artisanship. Climate change has brought riper grapes and earlier harvests, and as a result we’re seeing more of these wines made without manipulation – a gradual phasing out of what Jon Bonné, in The New French Wine, calls ‘industrial pop wine’.

For years, the market had grown used to nouveau wines tasting of candied banana and bubblegum – flavours I once assumed were a natural byproduct of carbonic maceration, but which in fact come from a specific yeast strain, 71B, which is no longer used to the same extent as it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

While I am a lover of Beaujolais Nouveau – especially in its newer, more natural iteration – there is even more scope for playful frivolity and experimentation in other regions and countries.

In an industry that can err on the side of stuffy and get bogged down in rules and labels, nouveau is a perfectly imperfect antidote for us to share abundantly and joyously.

Like my friends Greg Lane and Sarah Adamson of Scout Wines in New Zealand said of their Pinot x Pinot (a blend of Noir and Gris) take on a nouveau, they made it for no other reason than enjoyment, ‘to keep the house happy’.

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Spain’s best-known wine regions, Rioja and Ribera del Duero, are well established on the international stage. But beyond them lies a much broader map of producers working in varied and often challenging conditions.

The 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) results offer a window into this wider picture, showcasing a number of standout wines from lesser-known areas across the country.

In the far northwest, Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo are known for their dramatic landscapes and Atlantic influence, producing fresh, structured reds often from old vines and on steep, terraced vineyards. Over in Catalonia, in the northeast, Priorat and neighbouring Montsant show a more Mediterranean character – Priorat especially known for its slate soils and concentrated, ageworthy wines.

Inland regions such as Calatayud and Campo de Borja in Aragón, and the arid plateaus of Castilla-La Mancha in the central south, combine continental climates with high elevations, supporting robust reds and increasingly polished winemaking, although in Somontano, where producers often explore a mix of local and international grapes, this year’s standout is a youthful red built around fresh aromatics and vibrant fruit.

Further south, Jumilla and Montilla-Moriles, the latter in beyond Rioja and Ribera Andalucía, demonstrate how varieties such as Monastrell and Pedro Ximénez thrive in dry, sun-drenched conditions, producing bold yet balanced wines.

Scroll down to discover 14 top DWWA 2025 winners

White wines also feature in this year’s selection, with strong examples from Penedès, in Catalonia, and Valencia further south on the Mediterranean coast.

Indigenous varieties such as Xarel.lo and Merseguera are used to make textured, mineral-driven whites that offer freshness and character. Together, these regions illustrate the diversity and dynamism of Spanish wine beyond its most famous names.

The range of styles, grape varieties and growing conditions reflects a country still deeply rooted in tradition but increasingly confident in its regional expression.

See this year’s DWWA 2025 results and discover the world’s best wines at awards.decanter.com

Best in Show

Don Bernardino, La Capona, Amandi, Ribeira Sacra, Galicia 2019

Best in Show, 97 points

donbernardino.com

Anyone who’s seen images of (or, better still, visited) the extraordinarily steep granite vineyards of Ribeira Sacra will open this bottle with a sense of reverence: it’s likely to have been made with more sweat, effort and muscle than any other wine in our Best in Show selection (though no doubt Priorat runs it very close). The Mencía grape variety doesn’t always give deeply coloured reds, though a measure of this wine’s concentration and force can be read in its black-red hue. Despite the two years it has passed in oak, it’s still the powerfully peppery red fruits that dominate the aromas of this nearly six-year-old. It’s deep and almost apothecary in flavour – meaning that its wild damson and sloe fruits have a herbal or root-spice note to them. The acidity remains bright and juicy, and the peppery tannins bring further life to this hard-won gift of nature. Alcohol 14.5%

Vall Llach, Mas de la Rosa Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat, Catalonia 2023

Best in Show, 97 points

vallllach.com

The purity and finesse of this concrete-aged wine makes a convincing case for Cariñena as the pre-eminent variety for Priorat; and, contrariwise, for Priorat as the world’s greatest location for Cariñena/ Carignan. It’s also a plaudit for concrete ageing – in egg or otherwise. The wine’s aromas are less fruity than most; it’s one of those wines that seem to smell as much of a landscape as of fruit. It’s only two years old, yet the ageing has been so successfully managed that it has the seamlessness and harmony of a much older wine. On the palate, it’s refined, graceful and shawl-like, full of lingering dark-fruit intensity but counterbalanced by the wine’s unstrenuous cashmere tannin and insinuating, palate-lapping acidity: extraordinary finesse for a variety that’s often regarded as workmanlike elsewhere. Alc 15.5%

Bierzo

Almazcara Majara, Demasiado Corazón 2023

Gold, 95 points

almazcaramajara.com

Exuberant layers of white stone fruit, green apple and grassy herbals are enriched by a pervading freshness and quenching grapefruit acidity. Fleshy, supple and long. Alc 13.5%

Catalayud

Las Pizarras, Viña Castejón Garnacha 2023

Gold, 95 points

raicesibericas.com

Classic plum and raspberry fruit with smatterings of wild herbs and violet florals. Vanilla toast marks the palate, underscored by brisk acidity and a long, savoury finish. Alc 14.5%

Campo de Borja

Alto Moncayo, Veraton Garnacha 2022

Gold, 95 points

bodegasaltomoncayo.com

Plentiful notes of cherry blossom, red plum, cinnamon and cocoa submerge a palate that boasts vivid acidity, pliant tannins and a shiny backbone of oaky charm. Alc 16%

Castilla-La Mancha

Dehesa del Carrizal, Petit Verdot, Vino de Pago 2022

Gold, 96 points

dehesadelcarrizal.com

An illuminating array of plum, blueberry and mulberry fruit furnished with pencil shaving and liquorice depth. Mouthfilling and plush with bright acidity and fine mocha tannins. Alc 14%

Jumilla

Casa de la Ermita, Monastrell-Petit Verdot Roble 2024

Value Gold, 95 points

casadelaermita.com

Robust plum and blue and black berry fruit aromas with a herbal, floral undertone cushioned by a lipsmacking chocolate oak core. Very fresh, elegant and juicy. Alc 14.5%

Montilla-Moriles

Alvear, Tres Miradas Paraje de Riofrío Alto 3er Año 2021

Platinum, 97 points

alvear.es

A formidable style, with fennel, dried almonds and herbs, a mineral structure and an intriguing textural grip. Quenching and saline, with swathes of toasted nuts on the finish. Alc 13.5%

Montsant

Cellers Unió, Perlat Garnatxa 2023

Value Gold, 95 points

£15.50 Decántalo

Awash with juicy, mouthwatering flavour: fresh strawberry compote interlaced with dark berries, cherries and plums, underpinned by savoury, earthy tones. Long, well defined and pure. Alc 14.5%

Penedès

Vallformosa, Cultivare Xarel.lo 2020

Gold, 96 points

vallformosa.com

Bold, ripe peach and apricot notes with flecks of camomile and white flowers. Textured and broad with a fine beam of acidity and a fleshy fruit finish. Alc 12%

Priorat

Familia Torres, Salmos, Porrera 2021

Gold, 96 points

POA £ John E Fells

A punchy perfume of cranberries, plums and strawberries steeped in aromatic thyme, marjoram and rosemary. Supple and weighty, with a mineral structure and a persistent finish. Alc 14%

Somontano

Leo & Niné, Compartir Joven 2024

Value Gold, 95 points

leoninewines.com

Enticing violet and rose petal aromatics are followed by an exciting crunch of early- season bramble fruit, garnished with white pepper. Well structured, with a long finish. Alc 13.5%

Valencia

Vegamar, Huella de Merseguera 2024

Value Gold, 95 points

vegamar.es

Brilliant floral, crunchy apple and zesty white grapefruit aromas leap out of the glass, endorsed by the citrus acidity, limpid texture and enveloping herbal finish. Alc 12.5%

Cherubino Valsangiacomo, De Sant Jaume Malvasía 2024

Value Gold, 95 points

valsangiacomo.es

Tantalising pear, apple, apricot and peach aromas underscored by tingling notes of grapefruit, lemon and lime. Bright and crisp, with a lengthy herbal finish. Alc 12%

Search all DWWA 2025 award-winning wines

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Spain’s melting pot of historic producers and exciting modern projects offers a wealth of options for fine wine collectors at many price levels, even if trading on the secondary market is a work-in-progress.

From legendary Rioja and Ribera del Duero to mountain Garnacha, Spanish reds are in a rich vein of form quality-wise.

Collectors are taking notice. Spain’s secondary market presence remains minor, but Vega Sicilia topped the Liv-ex Power 100 ranking in December last year.

Many leading Spanish labels also continue to be a source of relative value.

This report focuses mainly on reds, drawing on data and exclusive reporting for Decanter Premium subscribers to deliver an introductory guide to top names, vintages and market performance.

That said, Spain’s bewitching and long-lived Sherry styles, high-end sparkling cuvées and superb white wines are not to be overlooked, as demonstrated by a host of top medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2025.

A downloadable PDF version of the Collector’s Guide: Spain is available here

Key Spanish fine wines to know

Tempranillo in various guises (as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero for example) takes centre-stage for reds, but not exclusively. Garnacha is a driving force behind several small-volume, sought-after bottlings, and a wealth of other varieties play important roles.

Historic Rioja producers, like R. López de Heredia, join Ribera del Duero powerhouses Vega Sicilia and Dominio de Pingus as the most-searched-for Spanish names on Wine-Searcher.

Wines in bold were among those recently named in Decanter’s list of ‘10 Spanish icons to try before you die’ (See also February 2025 magazine issue).

This list can only ever provide a snapshot, yet it still demonstrates Spain’s exciting blend of tradition and dynamism.

Rioja’s DOCa denomination is celebrating its centenary year, and several top producers pre-date this, but many of today’s leading Spanish labels have also emerged on the international stage in the past four decades.

Vega Sicilia dates back to 1864 and extraordinary mature vintages still turn up at auction, but the arrival of the Álvarez family in 1982 took things to the next level. Dominio de Pingus, led by Danish-born winemaker Peter Sisseck, quickly shot to fame after its inaugural 1995 vintage.

Exploring terroir and preserving old-vine heritage have been key themes. Álvaro Palacios helped to rejuvenate Priorat’s wine scene and his L’Ermita, now a Gran Vinya Classificada, debuted with the 1993 vintage. Other pioneers include Clos Mogador, created by René Barbier, and Clos Erasmus.

Comando G in the Gredos region, west of Madrid, has achieved cult status after founders Daniel Landi and Fernando García first launched the flagship ‘Rumbo al Norte’ with the 2010 vintage – a 100% Garnacha sourced from an historic 0.3 hectare plot. It’s the youngest entrant in Decanter’s Spanish wine icons list.

Another entrant, Muga’s Prado Enea Gran Reserva, is a leading Rioja to know.

Other key Spanish names, although far from an exhaustive list, include Muga, Artadi, Roda, Telmo Rodriguez, Benjamín Romeo (Contador), Ramón Bilbao, Torres, LVMH-owned Numanthia, and Xavier Ausàs, the ex-Vega Sicilia technical director who founded his own Ribera del Duero project in 2016.

More projects to discover

Discovery is one of the great joys of wine, and Spain is a treasure trove in this regard. Decanter’s first Rioja report, published earlier this year, named Carlos Sánchez and Sandra Bravo (Sierra de Toloño) among standout producers.

There are developments aplenty, too; witness Rioja’s new single-vineyard classification, introduced in 2017 or the consolidation of its ‘White Revolution’.

Vega Sicilia already has its Toro-based Pintia winery and Rioja venture Macán with Benjamin de Rothschild, but is also building a winery in the Albariño stronghold of Rías Baixas in Galicia.

Decanter’s Spain editor, Ines Salpico, recently explored new-wave Ribera del Duero, noting: ‘An exciting array of new projects is introducing the region to a younger audience seeking fresher, lower-intervention, ready-to-drink wines.’

One example is Bendito Destino, El Olmar 2021 (96pts) from London-based sommelier Terry Kandylis.

‘Garnacha and white varieties [are] co-harvested, co-fermented in concrete and aged for two years in a used French oak barrel,’ said Salpico. ‘It’s a superb, elegant wine, with outstanding detail and purity.’

Top Rioja vintages

Vintage guides often clash with a wine world that defies generalisation.

Caveats aside, some top Rioja wines from exceptional vintages ‘develop great complexity over decades and stay in pristine shape even after a century or more’, said Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW in a Rioja vintage guide for Decanter.

‘Such acclaimed vintages from the 20th century include 1948, 1952, 1955, 1964, 1982, 1994 and 1995.’

Rioja’s DOCa council lists several other years as ‘excellent’, such as 1934.

More recent five-star vintages include 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2010, said Ballesteros Torres, who also gave ‘4+’ ratings to 2012, 2016 and 2019.

All gran reserva wines, and some reservas, should be built for ageing, but not all wineries reference the classification system.

‘Know your producers; names are more relevant than classifications and vintages,’ Ballesteros Torres wrote.

Five Decanter Wine Legends through time

• Torres, Gran Coronas Reserva, Cabernet Sauvignon 1970
• R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Blanco 1964
• Bodegas Roda, Roda I Reserva 1994
• Vega Sicilia, Unico 1964
• Dominio de Pingus, Pingus 1995

Winery release strategies

Many top Spanish wines are released after several years of maturation, or ‘when ready to drink’. This partly reflects minimum ageing rules in some cases, but producers also run to their own schedules.

Alongside Unico 2015, Vega Sicilia also recently presented its Alión 2021 (95pts, Decanter). Technical director Gonzalo Iturriaga described 2021 as ‘a super vintage’ in general.

Some wines are offered ‘en primeur’ (on a futures basis), such as those of Álvaro Palacios. UK merchant Corney & Barrow told Decanter’s Market Watch recently that it would launch its offer for Dominio de Pingus’ 2024-vintage wines in August 2025.

Some UK merchants also recently launched pre-arrival ‘en primeur’ offers for the already-bottled La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890 2011 (£780 6x75cl in bond, Lay & Wheeler).

La Place de Bordeaux is increasingly a source of international fine wine releases, too, and single-site Rioja wine Yjar, by Telmo Rodriguez, is among a new wave of Spanish entrants.

Aged white Rioja unicorn

Long-aged white Rioja can be a true rarity and a wonder. Marqués de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco was first produced in 1917, and only 13 vintages have been released.

Last release: 1986 vintage (97% Viura, 3% Malvasia) | 99pts (Decanter). Bottled in 2014 after 20 years of ageing in American oak barrels and nearly six years ‘settling’ in concrete tanks.

Source: Capellanía vineyard, Ygay estate, Rioja Alta

Production: 8,125 bottles

Price: £825 (1x75cl ex-vat) via Hedonism | £650 – £1,000 (1x75cl, in bond) via BBX Marketplace, Berry Bros & Rudd.

Hunting value

Value is relative, of course. López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia Reserva, a Decanter Rioja icon, averaged well under $100-a-bottle on Wine-Searcher (See ‘fine wine market’ section below), and even Vega Sicilia’s Unico is generally priced below Bordeaux first growths.

Shopping through a producers’ range can bring rewards. Pingus ‘Psi’ is ‘a brilliant entry-point into old-vine fruit in the region’, said Guy Seddon, head of fine wine buying at Corney & Barrow, in last year’s offer brochure.

A wealth of under-the-radar wines also offer plenty of opportunities for intrepid collectors keen to build a drinking cellar.

Three value Spanish reds under $50*

Rioja

Bodegas Palacios Remondo, Finca La Montesa, Rioja, Oriental 2021

96pts | $19

From the historic family estate of Alvaro Palacios, ‘Very young now, this [Garnacha-dominant wine] will give much pleasure as it matures.’ – Sarah Jane Evans MW.

Ribera del Duero

Magna Vides, Tinto, Ribera del Duero 2022

96pts | $29

Magna Vides was created by Pablo Arranz and Andrea Sanz to preserve their grandparents’ legacy. ‘It is yielding some of Ribera’s most exciting and elegant wines.’ – Ines Salpico.

Bierzo

Luna Beberide, Paixar Dragonte A Serra, Vino de Paraje 2022

97pts | $34

From Mencia vines at 700 – 1,000m altitude, this wine is ‘at once wild and finessed’. Slate soils ‘deliver a steeliness and vibrancy’ for long and elegant ageing. – Beth Willard.

*Global average retail price per 75cl, ex-tax.

Spain on the fine wine market

Average global retail prices for leading Spanish wines have risen in the past five years, suggested data from Wine-Searcher, although prices will vary by vintage, market and merchant.

As in other areas of the wine world, prices can rise over time as supplies diminish. Muga’s Prado Enea 2001 averaged $209 in May 2025, for instance, well above the wine’s $97 average price.

However, Spain remains a relatively minor player on a fine wine secondary market dominated by French juggernauts Bordeaux and Burgundy.

While quality is high, it is a commonly-held trade view that many collectors prefer to keep treasured bottles for their own future pleasure – rather than trade them.

Matthew O’Connell, CEO of the LiveTrade online trading platform at international merchant Bordeaux Index, said active trading on Spanish wines was generally limited, with Vega Sicilia a rare exception.

Spain accounted for 2.4% of trading by value on Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, in 2024. That is comparable with the Rhône (2.8%), but behind a big five of Bordeaux (36.2%), Burgundy (22.6%), Champagne (11.8%), Tuscany (9.8%) and the US (6.1%).

Vega Sicilia has dominated trading on Spanish wine, in value terms, in 2025 so far at Liv-ex. The five top-traded wines are:

• Vega Sicilia, Alión 2020
• Vega Sicilia, Alión 2019
• Vega Sicilia, Unico 2014
• Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial 2014
• Vega Sicilia, Valbuena 5.° 2019

Liv-ex data also indicated a mixed recent performance on price for several leading Spanish wines.

A tough market

Current fine wine market conditions remain subdued. A boom period up to late 2022 has given way to one of the most challenging phases in recent history.

The Liv-ex 1000 index, which tracks prices of many of the most collectible wines, has dropped around 22% in two years and was nearly back at its mid-2020 level.

It has, nevertheless, more than tripled in the past two decades.

Vega Sicilia: New ground but prices soften

Within a subdued landscape, Vega Sicilia last year became the first Spanish producer to head Liv-ex’s Power 100 ranking of global brands.

‘This is overwhelmingly a story about Unico, and to some extent [multi-vintage] Unico Especial,’ said Liv-ex.

US demand drove trading, although signs of a pull-back in April and May could reflect wider buyer hesitancy in the face of import tariffs, noted Liv-ex’s head of market intelligence, Tom Burchfield.

Unico prices have also dropped after peaking in March 2023 – albeit they have risen significantly over 20 years (See Liv-ex Unico index).

Spain at auction: A rising force?

Online auction house Idealwine sold 3,500 bottles of Spanish wine at auction in 2024, up 83% versus 2023. The top lot was a bottle of Unico 1923, sold to a private buyer in Poland for €2,438, including taxes.

Other highlights included a bottle of Rumbo al Norte 2020 at €813, and a bottle of Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial (red) 1934 at €550.

Sotheby’s saw Spanish wine auction sales double last year. Its five best-selling Spanish producers were:

• Vega Sicilia (76% of total Spain auction sales)
• Pingus (8%)
• ‘Vina Sastre’ Pesus (4%)
• Álvaro Palacios (3%)
• Clos Erasmus (2%)

The remaining 7% of Spanish wine sales featured various names, including Marqués de Murrieta, Terroir Al Limit and Artadi.

Nick Pegna, global head of wine and spirits at Sotheby’s, said: ‘Vega Sicilia has always dominated [our Spain sales], because the wines are so sought-after, particularly Unico but also Valbuena.’

He highlighted the availability of decades-old Unico at auction.

‘The time they’ve had in oak means they can age incredibly well,’ he said. ‘They’re generally quite sensibly-priced, but people who want them absolutely love having them.’

Large-format Unico can be a real treat. US auction house Hart Davis Hart sold a six-litre bottle of the 2008 vintage for $5,975 in June 2025 (high estimate: $3,500).

Spain to attract new collectors?

Pegna said current figures must be seen in the context of Sotheby’s focusing on mature wines at auction. ‘You’re almost looking back in time a little bit to what people were collecting 15 years ago.’

He said several factors make Spain well-positioned to attract a new generation of collectors, including relatively accessible pricing and its status as a destination.

‘I think there’s a new generation for whom food and wine tourism is going to be their landing point in this world,’ Pegna said.

Spain excels here, he added. ‘Whether it’s Artadi El Pisón, López de Heredia, Vega [or] Pingus, there will be so many wines that people will come across for the first time at these moments and I think they will stick with them.’

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Disclaimer

Please note that this report has been published purely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. The report includes Wine-Searcher monthly global average retail prices in US$ to provide a consistent point of comparison, as well as data and opinion from other trade sources. All of this information is subject to change, and the prices and availability of wines cited will vary between countries, currencies and retailers. Decanter and the editorial team behind this report do not accept liability for the ongoing accuracy of its contents. Seek independent and professional advice where necessary and be aware that wine investment is unregulated in several markets. Please be aware that prices can go down as well as up.

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Rioja has made history twice in one year. Barely a month after Spain’s oldest designation of origin celebrated its one hundredth birthday, DOCa Rioja’s Regulatory Council has elected Raquel Pérez Cuevas as its first female president.

‘It’s an honour to be the first female president of the Regulatory Council – although I won’t be the only one, as women are becoming ever more present in [the wine industry],’ Pérez Cuevas said.

Challenges ahead

During her four-year term as president, Pérez Cuevas will answer to more than 13,000 growers and nearly 600 wineries registered in the Rioja designation of origin. She’ll be tasked with leading Rioja through a tumultuous period. Overproduction and a decline in sales have caused both grape and bottle prices to plummet in the past several vintages, and many growers and producers fear a lack of generational continuity as fewer young people join the wine industry.

The election comes during a politically fraught time for the region. At the end of May, Pérez Cuevas was chosen as president of Grupo Rioja, a powerful association of large wineries that accounts for nearly 90 percent of the appellation’s total sales. She had served as Grupo Rioja’s vice-president since 2015.

Pérez Cuevas will need to address tensions between her own Grupo Rioja and small- and medium-sized wineries, some of whom believe Rioja’s Regulatory Council has historically favoured the interests of large producers. In 2023, Bodegas Familiares de Rioja (an association of around 200 wineries) went so far as to give up its seats on the Regulatory Council, accusing Rioja of operating under ‘a purely economic system based on sales volume’. Although Pérez Cuevas was elected with 99% of the vote, the Asociación de Bodegas de Rioja Alavesa (ABRA) voted against her, while both the Asociación de Bodegas por la Calidad (ABC) and Araex chose to abstain.

Building bridges

‘I’ve met, I’ve spoken with, and most importantly, I’ve listened to all the associations in our council,’ Pérez Cuevas said in her first speech as president. ‘It’s important for me to be able to continue counting on all of you in this new era, where I would like to see dialogue, involvement, debate, unity – which is not the same as uniformity – and loyalty to the appellation that has made us who we are, so that Rioja continues to occupy the place it deserves in the world of wine,’ she added.

Originally from the village of Quel in southeastern Rioja, Pérez Cuevas studied agricultural engineering at the Universidad Pública de Navarra and oenology at the Universidad de La Rioja, as well as an Executive MBA at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas. She has been CEO of her family’s winery, Bodegas Ontañón, since 2010. Under her leadership, LaRioja.com reports, Ontañón has expanded to other wine regions such as Rueda and Ribera del Duero.

Pérez Cuevas thanked former president Fernando Ezquerro and her colleagues in the industry for the trust they’ve placed in her. ‘Our work begins today. We have some exciting years ahead of us, and one of the most beautiful and solid projects in the world of wine,’ she concluded.

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This past weekend, with views of Manhattan made moody by spring rains, over 500 wine lovers ascended the 60 stories to Manhatta for the fourth annual New York Fine Wine Encounter.

This year’s Encounter featured sell-out masterclasses from Biondi-Santi, a special retrospective on aged Veuve Clicquot, and Rioja’s top wines.

Starting the morning with Champagne, winemaker and director of R&D at Veuve Clicquot, Gaëlle Goossens, and Decanter’s Natalie Earl led the tasting of seven different vintages. Attendees were offered real treats, including Veuve Grande Dame bottlings from 1996, 1993 and 1990, to demonstrate the ageability of the classic cuvée.

Biondi-Santi’s director of winemaking, Federico Radi, and Decanter’s Tina Gellie led guests through some very special bottles of this Brunello icon, including their Riserva Brunellos from 1988 and 1975. Among the very first names in Sangiovese, the Brunellos of Biondi-Santi are a true masterclass in one of the world’s very special wines.

Rioja was the name on everyone’s lips for the day, from the masterclass celebrating the DOCa’s 100 years with Master Sommelier Jonathan Eicholz and Decanter’s Ines Salpico, to the special Rioja bar, with some unbelievable options with plenty of age and a special lunch menu paired with the impressive buffet put on by Manhatta’s culinary team.

Our Decanter editorial team will provide extensive coverage over the next few days of each of the masterclasses.

While attendees were queuing for the early masterclass, our first VIP Editor’s Lunches were underway with a Champagne toast, followed by exclusive wines from select winemakers for our exclusive guests. The small groups were treated to philosophical conversations on the emerging elegance of North American Pinot Noir and timeless Napa icons that included magnums of Cabernet from the 1990s, Sonoma Coast Pinot rarities and a mini-masterclass in Niagara’s dynamic terroir from winemaker Thomas Bachelder. All of it tied with a bow that included a Decanter-only inside scoop from our Napa correspondent, Jonathan Cristaldi, and yours truly.

On the Grand Tasting floor, guests were entertained by 50 producers all pouring special cuvées as the rain lashed the floor-to-ceiling glass with dizzying views of Manhattan.

Winemaker Trey Fletcher, of Santa Barbara’s founding Sanford & Benedict, was pouring some fantastic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from this coastal region, and he was really impressed with the calibre of guests at his first DFWE. ‘The questions from the guests are great. They’re clearly here to learn, not just drink wine, many of them are properly tasting and spitting, which makes this a very unique crowd,’ Fletcher said.

Highlight wines on the day included the 2015 Cristom, Louise Vineyard Pinot Noir, which showed Oregon’s ageability; a 2010 bottling of Vérité’s La Joie and a very impressive Barolo from Damilano, their Cannubi Riserva, ‘1752.’

Guests found plenty to be excited about among the 50 producers, the extensive offerings from the DWWA award-winning bar, and a deep selection of Rioja wines into the early evening.

As the clouds parted and rays of sun came to end the day, wine lovers left content and counting the days to the DFWE in 2026.

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People often ask me how I find new wines and producers. My winemaker friends are certainly very helpful, always pointing me in the direction of exciting projects.

Then there are local wine fairs, international shows and countless websites to search. But the answer is a lot simpler. I love chatting with local bar owners and restaurateurs to see what new discoveries or treasures they have to offer.

These are the people who drink with local winemakers and know first-hand what’s happening in the vineyards. They are also close to their customers and can spot changing consumer trends before we can even start to consider, let alone quantify them.

I talked with five business owners in the region, to find out what their customers are seeking in a glass of Rioja – and what they are drinking themselves!

Scroll down for an insider’s guide on what the locals are drinking

From young, fruity wines to aged classics, the people behind the bars of Rioja’s drinking establishments all agree that the region is at an exciting juncture.

Producers are making wines with a real sense of place, focused on terroir, that are of outstanding quality.

Perhaps Miguel Atxoteji from Arrope puts it best: ‘If the wines reflect the people and places that they are from, I’ll tell you their story.’

Alberto Rodríguez

Owner: Torres Gastrobar, Logroño

Logroño is the capital of the autonomous community of Rioja and is home to many of the region’s winemakers and growers, as well as being a popular tourist destination.

Calle de San Juan is in the very centre of Logroño and most nights it’s heaving with people looking for pintxos (tapas) and a glass of wine or two.

Alberto Rodríguez is owner of Torres Gastrobar, one of San Juan’s favourite bars, and now stocks more than 150 wines. ‘We have very loyal customers who are always looking for new things,’ he says.

Often customers arrive in pairs or small groups and are looking for a wine to have with a specific pintxo. They tell Rodríguez what they like and what they don’t like, and he tries to guide them to the right match.

‘We have a lot of interaction with our customers who also share their own knowledge of wines with us.’

So, what are they looking for? ‘My customers are generally looking for fresher, fruit-forward wines, not so much oak. They aren’t always looking for the classics but something different.’

And what does Rodríguez think about these ‘classics’? ‘I love them, wines like La Rioja Alta, Roda, Contino… there are too many to name. For sure customers still love them, too, but their preferences have changed a lot.’ Rodríguez is excited by small growers and new producers, and a younger generation that is doing great things for the region.

‘I can’t name them because there are too many! They are all very, very good – it’s a really great moment in Rioja.’

Torres Gastrobar counts numerous bottlings from other regions of Spain in its collection. This is certainly an important change: 10 years ago it would have been more challenging to find wines from outside Rioja in the region’s local bars.

Perhaps this is a sign of a more mature, less parochial consumer who has confidence in the quality of Rioja and isn’t afraid to explore further afield.

Oleg Buyalo

Founder: Roots, Logroño & Haro

Roots, with sites in both Logroño and Haro, is another venue with a more global vision. A coffee shop in the mornings, it transforms into a vibrant wine bar as the sun goes down.

Founder Oleg Buyalo says their selection of wines is ‘contracorriente’ – it goes against the flow. In Rioja, he explains, it’s usual for customers to order a ‘crianza’, without worrying about the winery or its origin, but at Roots, you won’t find one.

‘It’s our way of making consumers more mindful so that they pay at least a little attention to what’s in their glass.’

The majority of Roots customers are wine professionals, so the bars also have a wide offering of wines from other parts of Spain, as well as international wines.

But within Rioja, Buyalo is excited by artisanal producers whose wines express where they come from. ‘Projects that, above all, are aiming for quality, regardless of the style of wine,’ he says.

Oleg has just come from a new vintage tasting with Rioja Alavesa producer Viñedos Hontza that featured its 2023 Garaya, a natural wine that comes from a field-blend parcel that’s more than a century old. ‘Impressive,’ he excitedly exclaims.

‘Another wine I can’t stop drinking is Lágrimas de Graciano from Bhilar (2022, £16.99 All About Wine). Electric!’ However, Buyalo is also a fan of Rioja’s wine and food traditions and can’t go past Cerro Las Cuevas from Gómez Cruzado (2021, £46.95-£47.95 Cheers, NY Wines) with chuletillas de cordero (lamb chops) at Logroño’s classic restaurant Mesón Charro.

And his favourite Rioja? ‘Without a doubt, Las Beatas from Telmo Rodríguez (2021, £239 Shelved Wine).’

Miguel Atxoteji & Jean Carlos Santiago

Owner & sommelier: Arrope, Haro

Also based in Haro, in Calle de la Vega, Miguel Atxoteji is owner of hotel and restaurant Arrope. He has about 380 wine references in his cellar, including many old vintages that he has collected to offer something special to his customers.

‘They are not all from famous producers, explains Atxoteji. ‘But they show the amazing ageing potential of Rioja.’ (Case in point, a bottle of a 1994 reserva that Atxoteji opened during our recent stay while tasting for the recent-release report.)

Atxoteji believes that Rioja is undergoing a lot of change that’s really positive for the region. ‘Young growers and winemakers are focused on the terroir, on a particular vineyard or parcel.’

Being surrounded by wineries, his business is intertwined with the future of the wine region, and he wants to support his friends and colleagues.

His sommelier Jean Carlos Santiago endorses this: ‘I talk to our customers about the families behind the wines and how they are made.’

These customers are coming from all over Spain and abroad to taste the wines of the region. The surprising attraction? Rioja’s white wines.

‘Many Americans, for instance, come here because they know the classic white wines from López de Heredia, but then they try all sorts of other styles while they are here,’ explains Atxoteji.

He notes that even his Spanish customers are gradually drinking more white wines, realising that Rioja offers something different to Galicia and Verdejo. And what about Miguel, what is he drinking?

‘If I’m enjoying wine while talking with friends, most likely a fresh and fruity maceración carbónica style of wine – but it depends on the occasion. I like modern wines like those from Cuentaviñas and classics like Marqués de Vargas or Murrieta.

Igor Arregi

Owner: Kaia-Kaipe, Getaria

The Basque Country, famed for its gastronomy, is on Rioja’s doorstep, so it seems only right that we go there for an authoritative word, to see if Rioja is in good standing with its neighbours.

Right by the picturesque port of Getaria on the Basque coast, Kaia-Kaipe opened in 1962. Apart from serving one of the best grilled turbots you can find, it also has a cellar packed with more than 1,500 wine references.

‘But of course, wines from Rioja are the ones we sell the most,’ says Igor Arregi, Kaia-Kaipe’s owner. ‘Being a restaurant that specialises in local produce and seasonal food, it is logical that our wines are also dominated by locally produced Txakolí [mostly light, crisp dry whites] and the neighbouring Rioja region.’

Arregi has also noted an important increase in the consumption of white and sparkling wines over the past decade. ‘In fact, around 15 years ago in Rioja nearly all the wineries started making white wines,’ he says.

This has resulted in changes to his Rioja list. ‘People are looking for new sensations and want to try new things.’

With such an impressive cellar, what does Igor choose to drink? ‘I’m a Rioja drinker. I like young vintages in the market now just as much as old vintages.

I love producers like Artadi [no longer a member of the Rioja DOCa, but it displays the regional name of Alava on its labels], Familia Eguren (Sierra Cantabria, Viñedos de Páganos, Señorío de San Vicente), Muga and Marqués de Murrieta.’

Miguel Martínez

Founder: Vinum Vita, Haro

In Haro, home to the historic Barrio de la Estación district where some of Rioja’s most famous wineries can be found, Miguel Martínez established his wine shop and bar Vinum Vita some five years ago.

‘We have always loved the great classic wines of Haro,’ he begins. Does he have a favourite? ‘It’s difficult to name one in particular, as we would be leaving out some exceptional wines.’

Like his colleagues in Logroño, he has also noticed a change in tastes. ‘Even though we still have customers who lean towards the classics, in general they are looking for fruitier and fresher wines.’

With an Enomatic wine-serving machine, he also always has plenty of wines available for customers to try in convenient sampling pours. Martínez tries to present his customers with great-quality wines that offer value for money.

‘We opt for quality wines that truly express what Rioja is today without neglecting tradition. In particular, we want to highlight small, young growers and winemakers who are making great wines with the DOCa.’

Related articles

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For those in the know, the diversity of wine in Rioja is absolutely staggering. One of Spain’s largest wine regions, and certainly its most famous, more than 64,000ha of vineyards are scattered across three major sub-regions, hundreds of vineyards, dozens of villages and a variety of terrains.

For a long time, Rioja was pigeon-holed as being the home of classically made, long-matured red wines; yet these account for only a fraction of the wines produced in the region.

In fact, today Rioja is one of Spain’s most fashionable wine regions, with a plethora of projects that have defined a new style, typically driven by small, terroir-focused winemakers who have brought an entirely new energy to the region.

Shape-shifting influences

But how did we get here? Some historical context is important; going back to the beginnings of what we now consider to be Rioja, traditional winemaking methods were indeed the identity of the region.

The scourge of phylloxera – the vine root bug that decimated Bordeaux to the north in the late 19th century – led to an influx of winemaking acumen and momentum as Bordelais winemakers looked for a new beginning elsewhere.

The connection between these two regions was set, and by the time phylloxera made it to Rioja in the 1890s and foreign winemakers returned to their home countries, the influence had been indelibly stamped.

Short, gentle fermentations and long periods in barrel were the norm, leading to the age-based classification of joven (literally ‘young’, ‘youthful’), crianza, reserva and gran reserva that rewards longer ageing with an increasingly prestigious title.

This style dominated for much of the 20th century, with the eventual birth of ‘modern’ Rioja, in the 1990s, then shaking the tree.

A fashion for heavily extracted, powerful wines took hold – largely due to the influence of US-based wine critic Robert Parker – and many producers in Rioja were quick to adapt, not least because it allowed them to compete stylistically with the wines of rival Tempranillo-based denomination Ribera del Duero, to which they had unarguably lost some ground since the 1980s.

Against this backdrop was the consistency of the cooperatives, responsible for much of the juicy young Rioja, made using the whole-berry carbonic maceration technique and designed for early drinking.

These allowed for a different, more approachable and at times rustic side of Rioja to coexist alongside the traditional and modern styles.

This ‘lower-brow’ style would greatly influence the development of what would subsequently come to be seen as ‘post-modern’ Rioja.

Exploring terroir diversity

Ultimately, recent changes in style in Rioja were a result of a simultaneous curiosity about the terroir diversity of the region and a search for greater regional (and individual) identity.

At the same time, consumers were starting to pivot away from those heavy, ponderous wines and also looking for a greater sense of place, paired with restraint. Rioja stretches almost 100km from northwest to southeast, and 30-40km across the middle; it’s a big place, with a great deal of variety between the separate regions.

The Ebro, Spain’s longest river, runs through the centre of Rioja from its source in the northerly Cantabrian mountains, to the southeast, creating natural boundaries between some of its most famous sub-regions.

The Ebro has huge significance for Rioja, its tributaries creating the seven river valleys that segment the region, producing a great variety of soil types and aspects.

The complexity and interplay of these soils and aspects has been key in allowing the more ambitious producers to redefine the meaning of ‘modern’ Rioja, effectively thereby defining its postmodernity, too.

One of the stars of this movement has been Miguel Merino, who in 1994 set out to create classically styled Rioja, holding back the release of his first wines until 2001.

Merino died in 2021, but his son Miguel Jr, with his wife Erika, began to explore the microclimates around the village of Briones and became fascinated by the variation between vineyards

Eventually the 13ha they own became 33 distinguished plots, microvinified and then blended to create their collection of eight wines.

These have only recently been celebrated, and have become paradigmatic examples of port-modern Rioja.

La Quinta Cruz is the star of the line-up, a single-varietal Mazuelo (Carignan) with all the depth and earthy savouriness of old-vine expressions of the variety, yet with a lighter, more delicate touch and deliciously soft tannins.

Reaffirming identities

Artuke, too, has a similar story. In 1991, Roberto de Miguel decided to start bottling the wine he had previously sold to larger wineries, hand-selling it around the region in a bid to build a reputation for himself as a standalone producer among restaurants and other potential clients.

His sons, Arturo and Kike (hence ‘Artuke’) have since taken over and continue in the same vein, with a strong focus on the terroir north of the Ebro river, around the towns of San Vicente de Sonsierra, Abalos, Samaniego and Baños de Ebro.

The generational handover caused some pain, with Arturo and Kike forgoing the (modern) heavy, warm macerations in favour of moderate, cooler fermentations, and considerably less new oak.

‘I wasn’t so interested in the heaviness of the wines we were producing at the time,’ explains Arturo. ‘There is no point in having such concentrated wines if there’s no sense of balance’.

Artuke is not only a pioneer of the new village classification in Rioja (see below), but has also been instrumental in producing superb single-vineyard wines from remarkable vineyards, with La Condenada and El Escolladero consistently achieving sky-high scores and selling out almost immediately.

Making wine in Rioja: Styles and periods at a glance

Traditional

Children of the 19th-century Bordeaux influence, traditional Rioja wines are, at the heart of it, blends that focus around Tempranillo as their core. Grenache adds weight and spice, Graciano perfume, and Mazuelo (Cariñena/Carignan) extra acidity and a touch of dark fruits.

These grapes are often blended from various sub-regions, as each of them thrives in different climatic conditions. Fermentations tend to be short and gentle, with acidity at the heart of the wine style.

Long ageing before release is common, and the labelling will distinguish accordingly, with joven, crianza, reserva and gran reserva being the ‘pyramid’ in ascending order.

The ageing system of traditional Rioja means that these wines tend not to be ‘fruit-forward’, but display the complex aromas of slow ageing following lengthy periods in both barrel and bottle.

American oak is the traditional choice of ageing vessel, with more elevated, high-toned aromas of dill, coconut and vanilla.

CVNE, La Rioja Alta, López de Heredia and Muga are among the most highly regarded proponents of traditional winemaking in Rioja.

Modern

These are the wines of the 1990s to the mid-2000s, though many wineries are still opting for this powerhouse approach. Many are still blended and are categorised according to the classic pyramid of ageing requirements, but stylistically they are very different to traditional wines.

Fermentations are longer, warmer and focus on a higher level of extraction. The grapes are also typically picked riper, leading to a luscious, darker fruit profile.

Ageing is shorter than in traditional winemaking and tends to take place in newer, French oak barrels, and the wines have a more structured, serious and heavy framework.

These wines are focused around fruit and tannin at their core.

Benjamin Contador, Finca Allende and Roda are excellent examples of modern winemaking in Rioja.

Post-modern

The post-modern school focuses more on terroir than it does on blending, with a tangible emphasis on flavour transparency, indigenous grapes – and little on set ageing requirements.

Provenance is more important than grape blends or time spent in barrel, so the labels of these wines tend to display their growing region, village or even single vineyard.

Harvests are often earlier, to retain freshness in the wines, and fermentations are very gentle and aim for a slow extraction of tannin and flavour, often at cooler temperatures.

Semicarbonic maceration is also popular in many of the younger wines for much the same reason, often producing immediately accessible, juicy, fruit-laden wines.

A range of fermentation vessels is often used, with concrete, cement and clay amphorae becoming increasingly popular for the fine-grained tannins that are present in many of these wines.

Ageing is common but tends to take place in older oak barrels, or a far smaller percentage of new oak than in modern winemaking. These wines will often stand the test of time, but a lot of their joy is in early consumption, where the energy of the wine is most obvious.

Top producers of this style include Javier Arizcuren, Artuke, Victor Ausejo, Sandra Bravo, Miguel Merino and many more.

Catalysts of change

Miguel Merino and Artuke are just two among many other exciting names – such as Javier Arizcuren, Victor Ausejo, Sandra Bravo, José Gil, Carlos Mazo and Isa Ruiz at Vinos en Voz Baja, and many more – who are the new face of Rioja.

Although small in production size their impact has been much larger, sparking a years-long debate within Rioja about changing denomination laws to accommodate these new wines, which focus on expressing terroir rather than blending across a broader region to build a style.

In 2017, discussions culminated in new regulations allowing wines to be labelled as single-village and single-vineyard: Vino de Municipio and Viñedo Singular respectively.

Revisions are ongoing, in a complex effort to ensure that the denomination’s labelling requirements celebrate both regional blending and a more terroir-focused approach…

There are now three geographical classifications, beginning with Vino de Zona, which allows producers to label their wines Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta or Rioja Oriental.

One level up is village wine – Vino de Pueblo (until recently Vino de Municipio) – which allows producers to name one of 144 villages on their label.

Then there is Viñedo Singular, by which producers can reference a single plot, the vines of which must be at least 35 years old and harvesting done by hand at restricted yields.

Much of this is effectively a tribute to an earlier age of Rioja, when large wineries didn’t exist and cross-regional blending was therefore not practical – production of single-vineyard wines was the default, though they wouldn’t have been labelled as such.

It means that the new, terroir-focused approach now being brought in has a historical blueprint in the region. It comes as no surprise to see producers of many of these wines also utilising cement, concrete and other ancient vinification vessels and techniques.

White winemaking has also seen a tremendous boost since this terroir-centric approach has taken off, both due to greater consumer demand and a renewed interest in local varieties beyond the dominant (red) Tempranillo.

Even though white varieties account for less than 10% of total plantings in the region (according to Rioja consejo figures for 2022), a more hands-off approach to winemaking, higher-altitude plantings and earlier harvests are yielding lively, fresh and terroir-expressive white wines made from indigenous varieties.

Twenty years ago, producer López de Heredia struggled to sell its long-aged, nutty, savoury white wines. Now you’re fortunate if you ever see them on a shop shelf, as the demand is so high.

New frontiers

Perhaps the greatest benefit of this post-modern school of wines in Rioja is how it is opening Rioja up to new audiences and markets.

Many of the producers behind the new-style wines focus on sustainable agriculture, which has a strong pull in metropolitan centres such as Copenhagen, Berlin, Tokyo and New York (the UK has long been an enthusiastic consumer of Rioja’s wines, topping the consejo chart for export destinations in 2022 with a 30% share of the total by volume).

The small-scale nature of the productions is particularly attractive to sommeliers and wine enthusiasts who are looking for connections with those making their wines and the personable stories behind them.

The generally lower levels of alcohol, higher levels of acidity and transparent approach to winemaking make for far more palatable companions at a dinner table, and allow for wines that have a life ahead of them but can also be consumed more easily in youth.

Whether these post-modern wines become the region’s new icons will take a decade or two to verify – but based on the evidence in the glass, I wouldn’t bet against it!

Related articles

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The first time many visit Rioja, they’re not entirely sure what to expect. Neatly terraced vineyards as far as they eye can see? Wine routes adorned with tasting rooms and flashy hotels? In truth, Rioja is a lot more down to earth than that. Home though it is to some of Spain’s greatest wines and some truly brilliant restaurants.

The waves of slopes and small hills that adorn the region dispel any idea of ‘neat’, though to see them in full bloom is still quite remarkable. From the cooler north of Rioja Alavesa, to the warmer south of Rioja Oriental (in the region’s southeast), there is little uniformity; more of an understated, shifting ruggedness. Think ‘Montana meets Spanish wine country’, interspersed with beautiful villages, pierced by the mighty Ebro river and framed by the Sierra de Cantabria mountains. This is the great outdoors with a hefty dose of fine wine and excellent food. From horseback riding to hiking, tapas and pintxo routes and stunning natural parks, there’s a lot more to see and do in Rioja than first meets the eye.

Rock climbing in Rioja Alta

In the north of Rioja, altitudes rise and the weather becomes noticeably cooler, the landscape noticeably greener. Limestone cliffs rise out of the terrain, and small, dense forests are commonplace, uninterrupted by the vineyards that spread across this beautiful landscape. This is the perfect place to learn how to rock climb, and Grape Aventura – based between Haro and Ollauri, and no strangers to combining outdoor activities with winery visits – has the perfect course to teach you how to do just that.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of climbing and find yourself at the top of a small bluff, you’ll be rewarded with the most stunning, panoramic views of the region – the sort of view that can’t be purchased with an expensive cocktail in a high-rise hotel – and you’ll have earned it!

This could be done as a day trip from either Haro or Logroño, but another option would be to stay overnight and truly combine it with a winery experience, such as Hotel Villa de Abalos in the wine-centric town of the same name. Coming back from a hard morning’s rock climbing, freshening up and then having the afternoon to enjoy a long, leisurely lunch with plenty of wine? Sign me up.

Rioja on horseback

If the scenery of Rioja invites comparisons to some of the most ruggedly beautiful places in the world, there’s also the opportunity to explore it in a similarly old-fashioned way. One of the beautiful things about wine country is that, harvest time aside, roads are relatively traffic-free, and there are many off-road trails that are easily navigable and give you an entirely different perspective on the region than could be achieved by driving around it. Rioja Like a Native is an oenotourism business run by Rebeca Perez, who believes exactly that, and organises many ways to experience a different side of Rioja while learning all about its history, culture and, of course, wine production.

Among other activities, small groups of horses are available to hire with an expert guide, who will lead you on a route across Rioja Alta, with two winery visits punctuating the ride. There’s something lovely about traversing the region in the same way that the locals did for centuries, while diving into that very same history and culture. Pick-up and drop-off at your hotel or accommodation is also included, so no need to worry about the logistics!

Getting around Rioja

Travelling to Rioja is easy, though it has no international airport of its own, the closest being in Bilbao, from where you can either make your way to the region’s main cities Haro or Logroño, which will take roughly 1.5 hours by car or 2.5 hours by train. However, hiring a car is strongly recommended, either in Bilbao, San Sebastián (depending on your route) or in Rioja itself. Most of the truly interesting locations, outside Haro and Logroño, require a car to access, and private vehicle hire will be difficult and expensive.

Where relevant, we’ve made some recommendations for accommodation here, but it’s possible to find stunning boutique hotels, bed & breakfast and rural houses in many of the towns and villages of Rioja. Haro and Logroño remain the most densely populated areas and both make for excellent bases, but if you’re looking for something a little more off-the-beaten-track, then follow the advice in this article.

Sierra Cebollera national park

There will be moments when you want to disconnect from wine completely, and for that there’s no better place than the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Cebollera, a range of mountains to the south of Logroño designated a national park, and with good reason. This part of Spain is the tail end of what’s known as ‘Green Spain’ – the cool winds and rain brought from the northerly Atlantic ocean aren’t as significant as in Galicia, further west, but are enough to create an incredible landscape, rich in biodiversity and life. The park begins at Villoslada de Cameros, a short drive south on the N-111 from Logroño, and then spreads out across almost 24,000 hectares of incredible green hills, forests and fields.

Various walking routes are available, from a gentle 6km with a 200m elevation gain, to an arduous 24km walk with more than 600m of elevation gained during the route. You’ll find yourself passing through dense forests of Pyrenean oak trees, pine and birch, past waterfalls and areas intensely packed with local flora and fauna. Crossing streams and rivers, you’ll sometimes wonder whether you’re in Spain or the Lake District. A perfect daytime itinerary before exploring the gastronomic scene of Logroño at night – you’ll have earned the pintxos.

Rioja Oriental

The most southerly of the sub-regions of Rioja, Rioja Oriental is its largest and least densely populated. As a result, this is often new territory even for those who have visited Rioja before, and is home to some of its most stunning scenery. It was among the prime vineyard locations for the ancient Romans and there are various sites that still preserve the original stone lagares that were once used for some very rudimentary winemaking!

First of all, you’re going to need accommodation and I can’t recommend Posada de Urreci highly enough: a gorgeous rural house located on the edge of the village of Aldeanueva de Cameros. You’ll need a car to strike out into the heart of Rioja Oriental, but coming home will be as much of a pleasure as the adventures themselves. The natural beauty of the Cuevas de Ortigosa de Cameros caves is a short journey west (just back into Rioja Alta territory) – an ancient rock formation only accessible by crossing an iron bridge, and the only accessible caves of their kind in Rioja. Bring something warm to wear, even in the summer!

From here, it’s a short drive to the El Rasillo nautical club, on the waters of the González Lacasa reservoir, for an excellent lunch and then maybe an afternoon of sailing, windsurfing or just enjoying the view and the tranquility of the water. If you still have time, a visit to Aldeanueva de Ebro is essential – a beautiful village that also has one of Rioja’s most important wine museums (check ahead for opening times). It’ll be a busy day, certainly, but a truly unique one.

High-jinks in Rioja

If the above options haven’t satisfied your need for adventure and discovery, then consider a visit to Ojapark, the ultimate outdoor club in Rioja. With an obstacle course, paintballing, waterslides, climbing wall, archery course, mini-golf, even a go-karting track, there’s something for everyone here, and guided activities can be booked for groups if team-building is your goal. There’s a large picnic area outdoors and a prepared picnic basket can be prepared if you’d like. Best of all, it’s located on the road west of Logroño (take the A-12 to Santo Domingo de la Calzada and turn south), en route to the town of Ezcaray, one of Rioja’s most charming towns, set against a stunning backdrop of the Oja valley in which it sits.

Ezcaray is also home to arguably the region’s greatest restaurant, the Michelin two-star El Portal de Echaurren and its associated hotel. After all the journeys around Rioja, a little bit of luxury might just be the ideal way to round things off.

Let your hair down

If there’s one thing the Spanish know how to do, it’s throw a good party. Rioja, like most regions in Spain, has culturally important celebrations throughout the year that are typically only known within the region itself. They tend to take place from spring through to autumn, though there’s so very many it’s hard to keep track! Each village has its own events, and the following are just some of the most notable. If your trip coincides with one, it’s well worth going to see for yourself…

Alava olive oil festival

Spain is by far the world’s largest producer of olive oil (reported at 1.38m tonnes for the 2024-25 season by Olive Oil Times in February), and Rioja has its part to play with the highly regarded Arroniz olive, which is unique to the region. Taking place in late March, the Feria del Aceite de Oliva de Alava is a celebration of all things related to olives; guided tastings, visits to producers, good food and of course, good olive oil. It takes place in Moreda de Alava, Lanciego and Oyón.

The dancers of Anguiano

One of the most popular festivals in Rioja, this tribute to Mary Magdelaine involves eight men wearing colourful costumes and walking on stilts; very dramatic! This street festival brings out the crowds who want to socialise, drink and enjoy the bright spectacle as it parades through the streets of Anguiano. Look for this in May, July and September.

Haro wine festival

The most famous festival of Rioja and with good reason; the Batalla del Vino is as much fun as it sounds. Technically this begins on 23 June, but the real climax and fun is on the morning of the 29th, with more than 1,000 revellers dousing one another with wine, before returning to Haro to continue the revelry. Needless to say, wear clothes you don’t mind disposing of afterwards!

Fiestas de San Mateo

Taking place in Logroño in mid-September, the festival of St Matthew is a celebration that dates back to the 12th century and celebrates the harvest, though in modern times this is often still well underway. It’s quite the spectacle, with Logroño packed full of street events, singing, dancing and good times. If you were ever looking for a week to be in Logroño, this would be the one.

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Having tasted so many wines – and so many good wines! – it was inevitably difficult, and painfully unfair, to come up with a selection of only seven stand out producers.

And yet, the names below emerged as vivid choices once we decided to reward not just their performance at this year’s report but also their exciting potential in years to come.

Their wines also reveal a trajectory of evolution and endless curiosity that will have us on the edge of our seats in 2026.

Scroll down to discover which Rioja producers stood out from this year’s grand tasting

Alonso & Pedrajo

When, in May 2024, Alonso & Pedrajo’s Suañé Reserva Rosado was one of the top scoring wines at our Rosados and Claretes Panel Tasting, many readers might have never heard of this interesting project, founded in 2011, without inherited vineyards or facilities, by the two families it takes its name from.

However, as our Report’s tasting revealed, the interest of their range goes well beyond their delicious rosado. While still at a stage of exploration, this is a project that deserves both attention and encouragement.

There’s something brave about starting a project from scratch and daring to defy stylistic categorisation without falling prey to the fleeting trends of the zeitgeist.

Barbarot – Bárbara Palacios

There’s great vitality to the wines produced by Barbara Palacios under her Barbarot project. She plays along the frontier between tradition and classicism (the thinnest of lines), her wines showing an interesting, if at times conflicting, tension between fresh drinkability and broody intensity.

Her recent appointment as head winemaker at Casa La Rad is an interesting development for both the storied winery and her own range.

Will Palacios feel motivated to be more adventurous with the Barbarot wines? Will she be too busy? And where will she take La Rad’s decidedly traditional range?

All interesting questions for the lovers of Rioja wines.

Carlos Sánchez

There were many ‘wow’ moments during our extensive tasting. More than one coincided, we later realised, with the wines produced by Carlos Sánchez, both under his own label and in partnership with the Canadells family (Domaine Canadells-Sánchez) and friends Naco and Javier (3 Viñerones).

Having started his career in Gredos, it’s definitely possible to find a stylistic connection between his Riojas and Gredos’ granitic Garnachas.

To say that his wines are ‘Burgundian’ is an accurate cliché, such is the filigree structure and flinty precision they all display.

Deftly managing wood as a supporting framework to showcase grape variety and terroir, Sánchez is making some of Rioja’s best contemporary expressions – incredibly age-worthy but a challenge to leave in bottle.

Savvy collectors will surely be taking note.

Read all the articles and tasting notes in our Rioja Report 2025

Miguel Merino

An ‘usual suspect’ some will say. But it was inevitable to include Miguel Merino on this list such was the consistency of the wines’ performance across categories.

The elegance and purity that have made Merino one of the most sought after names of post-modern Rioja has eased into a confident classicism.

Part of it might be a product of the increasing confidence of Merino Jr. who, alongside wife Erika, took the helm of the estate following the founder’s passing in 2021.

Their vision and energy seems to be gaining as much definition as the wines they produce, bringing contemporary vividness to what is Merino’s trademark purity and structural elegance.

Ramón Bilbao

Having celebrated its centenary in 2024, Ramón Bilbao seems to have settled into a coherent diversity after a period of tentative experimentations.

Its different collections add a point of character and difference to a whole of incredible quality and, in some cases, outstanding value.

The secret behind Ramón Bilbao’s evolution and success became apparent during our Rioja Report tasting, held at the producer’s facilities in Haro.

The efficiency, focus and flexibility with which they helped us navigate a blind tasting of circa 700 wines reflects the work ethics of Rosana Lisa, director of innovation and technical director of Lalomba, and Rodolfo Bastida, head winemaker and general manager.

With complementary skills and perspectives they are building an ever more consistent range, that counts both longstanding classics and groundbreaking innovations.

Sandra Bravo – Sierra de Toloño

The freshness and textural appeal of the wines produced by Sandra Bravo at Sierra de Toloño are very distinct, and truly shone at this tasting. She pairs unpretentiousness and approachability with complexity and technical ability.

Her straightforward, no-nonsense energy comes through in each bottle, as does her knowledge and experience working in other wine regions.

That’s perhaps the greatest strength of her range: international modernity that doesn’t lose sight of its roots; sense of place with worldly awareness.

Her flagship Nahikun is slated to become one of Rioja’s most sought-after white wines (you heard it here first!), while her reds certainly deserve more attention. We’re keeping an eye on you Sandra.

Vintae

The family-owned company behind the Hacienda López de Haro and El Pacto wines is a force to be reckoned with.

Their ability to think ‘outside of the box’ while reinterpreting textbook examples of much loved styles, have allowed them to create some of Rioja’s newest and more exciting modern classics.

Vintae’s wines are among the top-scorers across all categories, with diversity matched by consistency and personality married with approachability.

Vintae’s success is about harnessing the essence of Rioja while understanding what we really want to drink. There’s an ability (and willingness) to reach out in each glass.

It’s this willingness to engage and playfully seduce that Rioja (and arguably all the wine industry) so desperately need.

That the wines are superb just makes the ultimate case for this energy and unpretentiousness – which Vintae’s wines themselves vividly show.

Related articles

• Rioja Report 2025: Notes on a tasting a century in the making
• Rioja Report 2025: The white wines
• Rioja Report 2025: Fresh reds

Whites and rosés used to be an aside, almost a curiosity, at big Rioja tastings. Mostly a pretext to cleanse the palate of pigments and tannins between long stretches of reds.

This is definitely no longer the case.

Quality beyond red

The increasing relevance of the white category – in both size and quality – is now a given, as seen in the 149 white wines we tasted for the 2025 Rioja Report. Among them are world class bottles shaping a new canon of Rioja Classics.

This we might have expected. What we didn’t anticipate was the great showing of rosados and claretes: modest in size (a total of 35 wines) but remarkably consistent in quality (only four scored less than 89 points) and with expressiveness and character across styles and price points.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the best rosados and claretes

Power, elegance and age-worthiness

Overall, the pink Riojas fell largely into two categories: fruit-driven richer styles, with weighty mid palates and immediate appeal; more restrained, subtle iterations, that rely on strong acid backbones and mineral freshness.

Within each of these, some lean towards good-value straightforwardness, while the top scorers really show how Spanish rosés also deserve consideration as age-worthy, higher-shelf wines.

Among the latter, we had Izadi’s La Gran Rosa (a new addition to the producer’s portfolio) and Ramón Bilbao’s Lalomba Lalinde, examples of the more subtle mineral-laden iterations.

López de Haro’s Classica Gran Reserva Rosado and Ontañón Clarete are top examples of the richer styles. All are simply great wines, drinking beautifully now but well worth cellaring.

Exploring singularity

It’s great to see winemakers leveraging the specific potential of each grape variety – namely the floral nature of Garnacha and the crunchier side of Tempranillo – to create pink wines that have personality and a specific appeal.

The remarkable improvement in quality and diversity also shows greater confidence, among Rioja producers, to experiment and assert an identity beyond the reds.

Not a coincidence, therefore, that all the producers behind the highest-scoring rosados/claretes are among those who, in recent years, have been more willing to step out of their comfort zones.

We did wish, however, we’d seen more Claretes (a pink wine produced by co-fermented red and white grapes and generally more intense and aromatic than a rosado).

Ontañón’s was a lone wolf in the top line up but this is a sub-style with so much potential to leverage Rioja’s fruit, on the one hand, and the region’s historical traditions, on the other.

We look forward to seeing more of it in our 2026 Report.

Rioja Report 2025: The best rosados and claretes

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Walk into any supermarket in Spain and you will find wines from Rioja at prices that are clearly below the cost of production.

And in markets abroad, there are always deals for Rioja, even reserva and gran reserva wines.

But there is a difference between cheap (the ‘entry-level’ proposition Ines Salpico mentions in her introduction to this report) and value, and what we encountered in this tasting were wines offering fabulous pleasure, a sense of place and great bang for your buck! Value.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting’s best value wines

It was a real delight to taste some delicious wines made by carbonic maceration – in which intact bunches undergo an initial stage of fermentation within the uncrushed grapes, in the absence of oxygen.

In this selection, Bodegas Feco and Bodegas Betolaza have produced intensely fruity Tempranillos that show off the full expression of the variety.

This method – which leaves a little carbon dioxide in the wine – is an important part of the history of Rioja. In fact, up until a couple of centuries ago, it was the only way of making wines that were generally enjoyed young in the year of production.

They offer intense and immediate pleasure.

There are also so many great-value wines in this tasting that represent the character of Rioja’s vineyards. Berta Valgañón’s Selección Natural comes from vines in Villaseca, near the Obarenes mountains west of Haro, and offers concentrated blueberry fruit, aromas of undergrowth and a mineral core.

On the other hand, Ramón Bilbao’s Viñedos de Altura combines parcels in Abalos, just east of Haro, and Tudelilla in Rioja Oriental. The wine reveals fresh herbal aromas and spice, with plush red berry fruit: a well-made blend of these two zones of production.

Bang for your buck

Among these top-scoring, affordable wines, we also find characterful Garnachas that at once embody both elegance and broad appeal.

The higher zones of Rioja Oriental are delivering some of the best examples, such as Finca La Montesa from J Palacios Remondo.

The grapes for this wine, in which strawberries and peppery spice combine with fresh acidity and marked minerality, come from vines grown on the slopes of the Yerga mountain.

Ortega Ezquerro’s OE Garnacha also comes from Rioja Oriental, from Finca El Monte at 680m, where the soils are very stony. With dried herbs, blood orange and plum, the wine is vibrant and zesty.

And let’s not forget about traditional styles of crianza, wines aged for at least two years, one of which must be in oak. The go-to drink of locals in the bars of Rioja, crianza wines can offer all the bright red berry fruit and spice of the Rioja vineyards combined with fresh, balsamic oaky characteristics.

The cooperative in Labastida has produced a very satisfying, textbook crianza under the Manuel Quintano label that offers a welcoming blend of sweetness and structure – a well-made wine that can be enjoyed any day of the week.

Whether in a tapas bar in Rioja, or a wine bar in London, I would be sublimely happy if someone offered me a glass of any of the wines selected here.

They reveal a clearly defined vision of Rioja and immediate drinking pleasure, and they offer fabulous value, particularly those wines retailing at around £15-£20.

I would argue that there are very few wine regions in the world that can offer such outstanding quality at similar prices.

Rioja Report 2025: The best for value

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Those first aromas, that first sip. Blueberry fruit, red berries, rose petals and wild mountain herbs. This is Rioja.

When a wine transports you to this wild and beautiful landscape, it bathes you in the warm, soft glow of pure joy and pleasure – drinking becomes an emotional experience.

The genérico category – wines without an age-related classification such as reserva or gran reserva – was easily the largest of this tasting, and it was where we encountered some of the most exciting wines.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting’s best fresh reds

We tasted 274 wines in this category but only 58 have retail pricing below the £15 mark. What was once a classification simply for young wines – with just one or two years of ageing – is now dominated by some of Rioja’s most outstanding cuvées.

Sense of place

Purity and freshness define the top wines in this selection. Their focus? Specific vineyard sites, villages or varieties. These are wines that truly speak of their origins and invite an immediate connection with the vines from which they’re sourced.

El Palacio from Luis Cañas is a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Viura, all from one parcel planted in 1969 with different orientations and surrounded by indigenous scrubland.

The varieties are fermented together in wooden vats and then aged in large 500L barrels – gentle winemaking that simply supports the fruit for the fullest of its expression.

Other excellent wines in this category show off Rioja’s rich tapestry of varieties. The seductively inviting La Quinta Cruz from Miguel Merino is made from Mazuelo (one of only a few single-variety Mazuelos in Rioja) from a 1.2ha vineyard in Monte Calvario de Briones where the soil is poor and covered with stones.

A light touch is shown here, with the wine spending 12 months in a combination of concrete and bocoys of 500L.

Proelio has also produced a stunning single-variety wine, La Canal del Rojo, this time from Garnacha in Badarán. Fermented in concrete (with stems), it spends 15 months in 20hl oak vats to preserve the integrity of both the varietal and vineyard characters.

Varied expressions

The styles of the wines in this selection also highlight the diversity of the category and of Rioja itself. Tom Puyaubert’s Exopto 2023 is a young, vibrant wine, a blend of Garnacha, Tempranillo and Graciano, that is aged for just six months in concrete, oak vats and used oak.

It’s a joyful explosion of fruit from old vines in Alfaro and Abalos. Beautiful in its simplicity, it’s a wonderful, unadulterated expression of the vineyards.

Carlos Sánchez interprets his vines differently, producing the fine, elegant La Bendecida.

Coming from a tiny 0.2ha vineyard in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, this field blend of Viura, Tempranillo and Garnacha undergoes spontaneous fermentation and is aged on fine lees for 15 months in used barrels.

While hesitant to make comparisons, I could argue that this is the most Burgundian of the wines in this selection. Certainly, it’s a beautiful reflection of Rioja’s historical vineyards.

This selection of genérico wines consists of producers big and small, all committed to expressing Rioja’s varied terroir. The wines’ ageing potential is impressive, although it will be hard to resist drinking them young: approachability and longevity aren’t incompatible.

Quite simply, they are wines that rival the best in the world.

Rioja Report 2025: Best of the fresh reds

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It’s been said often enough, in recent times, as peace agreements in Ukraine and the Middle East remain elusive: peace is a process, requiring work and commitment – not an event.

The same could be said of revolutions.

Rioja’s ‘white revolution’ is the perfect example of a process unfolding, with a lot of work and commitment from producers – no doubt in response to consumer demand, but also as a product of a re-appreciation of the region’s heritage and pre-phylloxera palette of grapes and styles.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting’s best white wines

Not that long ago, the fact that 152 of the 700+ wines we tasted were white (including at least 10 with enough skin maceration to fall under the ‘orange’ category) would certainly have been unlikely.

White Rioja is evolving, deeply and rapidly, with a new canon emerging alongside its red counterpart.

The selection here reflects the evolution of these classics; some firmly established, others still carving their space, all recognisable in the glass, stylistically assertive and technically pristine (albeit so differently made, which explains the wide array of vintages released in the same 12 months).

Excellence & diversity

The best white wines we tasted are simply world class. Comparisons between white Rioja and white Burgundy have become a cliché – helpful if trying to contextualise quality and commercial potential, but also arguably unfair.

There’s an unmistakable Riojan identity to wines such as Murrieta’s Capellanía, Jesús Acha’s Senda de Haro and Victor Ausejo’s Parcela 333. It’s not just a matter of place and grape variety, but also of structure and texture – a towering assertiveness to the acid backbone; an elegant yet muscular savouriness on the palate.

The stylistic range – from CVNE’s Monopole Clásico GR to Alonso & Pedrajo’s Suañé, via Ostatu’s Lore and Conde Valdemar’s Finca Alto Cantabria

– is wide but delivered with consistency.

Differences in how wood – and as its counterpoint, reduction (a technical winemaking feature induced by fermenting in the absence of oxygen and often described as an aroma of flint, smoke, struck match or even asparagus) – is used, were particularly interesting.

Gone are the days when flagship white Rioja meant nutty depth and oxidative intensity. Here we see top wines of flinty verve and chalky smokiness; wines of chiselled fruit alongside expressions with firm phenolic- laden grip; and wines that remain unapologetically classical, framed by spicy wood.

This makes for a fascinating coexistence of traditional, modern and post-modern Rioja – a theme throughout the report and certainly one of the most exciting processes happening in the region, with this ‘clash’ of perspectives opening new views and possibilities, not least on the white front.

The next challenge

But for a more coherent picture of what white Rioja is – and can be – to become clear, more ambition is needed at the lower end of the price spectrum.

The wines shown here can, for the most part, be described as ‘premium’; humbler whites didn’t show the same character and consistency or indeed the same confidence and energy as the reds at the same price.

If it’s at mid- to premium-level that white Rioja has potential to become truly competitive, a battling entry-point needs to tell the same tale of regional identity and differentiated quality.

However, given how rapidly the category is evolving, we’ll no doubt see exciting developments in our 2026 report!

Rioja Report 2025: The best white wines

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Many people play and have played the trumpet, but only one of them has ever sounded like Miles Davis. As soon as the first chords of Kind of Blue (Davis’ iconic 1959 record) fill a room, it’s not only the music, but also the man and the era that are immediately recognisable.

This is the same experience that Rioja’s best reservas and gran reservas afford – the wine itself a product of a producer’s identity as much as of regional character and vintage conditions – not so much the zeitgeist; an expressiveness that transcends technical ability and passing trends.

Some might argue that vintage and origin become obscured by stylistic definition. While tasting for this report, we felt that the latter helps to bring terroir and regional identity into focus, providing context and structure to the possibility of recognisable difference.

Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting’s best reserva and gran reserva wines

For it is recognisable, consistent differentiation, matched by quality, that carves the space of a classic. And boy, didn’t Rioja’s classics deliver their difference with impressive transparency?

What makes them stand out – increasingly so – is their unpretentious craftsmanship. Producers have long learned that gimmicks are unnecessary. Usual suspects? Well, yes.

But the fact is that, while tasting them blind, they do stand out, not by being boisterous but simply by being themselves.

There’s a certain ease – call it confidence or class if you wish – with which Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, Prado Enea, Contino, or Remírez de Ganuza’s Reserva uncurl in the glass, showing, and to an extent defining, their parent vintages.

Reference point

Overall, and inevitably, there’s more stylistic consistency in reservas and gran reservas, as producers seek to commit to the expectations for these categories – and to the identity of wines that, in some cases, are in a category of their own.

Ironically, this creates a level playing field that vividly differentiates quality and identity. These wines are a canonical reference point from, or against, which other producers can work.

If Rioja’s new classics are emerging outside the remit of reserva and gran reserva it’s because of, not despite, the strength of these categories and the accumulation of knowledge they represent.

These are the jazz standards that all improvised solos can reference and reinterpret.

It will be interesting to see how, or indeed if, the Burgundy-inspired, geographical Rioja classification pyramid will create a feedback loop and force the ageing-based categorisations to change stylistically.

A process that will, due to the very nature of how the latter are released, require a good few years to draw any conclusions. In the meantime, as this report shows, we can enjoy remarkable outputs from both sides of this ‘philosophical battle’.

Investment and collector markets are slowly but surely taking notice of these exciting developments in Rioja (and for that matter elsewhere in Spain).

It’ll be interesting to see how the fine wine spheres adjust their orbit as flagship Riojas continue to evolve – something we’ll consider closely in reports to come.

Rioja Report 2025: The best reserva & gran reserva wines

Wines are ordered by gran reserva then reserva

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It was with great anticipation that we set out to organise Decanter’s first Rioja report, offering a comprehensive, dedicated assessment of wines released in the 12 months prior to the tasting in early March – an exercise that was long due and to which there was a sense almost of urgency, as a necessary companion to our annual Rioja guide.

The excitement with which our call for samples was received confirmed its timeliness and relevance, for producers and consumers alike.

This is indeed a particularly interesting – perhaps pivotal – moment in Rioja’s history.

Click here to see more articles on the tasting’s results

The celebration of the DOCa’s centenary serves as a neat opening for a new chapter that, while heavily referencing history and tradition, grapples with a completely new set of challenges (such as climate change, change in consumer demand and political instability – not least internally, within the region) paired with a new set of opportunities.

The selection in the pages that follow is split into four thematic sections, offering but a snapshot, a glimpse into the more than 700 Rioja wines – all released in the past 12 months – that we assessed for this report, after hectic weeks of logistical coordination and over intense days of dawn-to-dusk tasting with two tasting coordinators and five support staff.

It reflects some of the most important trends we identified as patterns emerged and conclusions started to come into focus.

Quality proposition

So what were the most important, higher- level, takeaways? First, baseline quality is at an all-time high, following a steady trajectory of improvement.

Producers, big and small, continue to invest in better viticultural practices and become more purposeful in the cellar – this came across vividly during our tasting, with only 124 wines scoring below 89 points.

This factor, in turn, is bringing value, consistency and expressiveness in line with each other, with higher-priced wines elbowing out the lower-shelf labels that once, notoriously, took up a lot of space.

This without compromising – and in fact supporting – the outstanding value proposition that Rioja remains across styles and categories.

Herein lie some of Rioja’s most obvious opportunities as the denomination enters its second century.

By consolidating its quality proposition and moving away from the entry-level messaging, Rioja can position itself where some of its international counterparts now sit less comfortably, be it due to viticultural challenges (Tuscany, Bordeaux) or market adjustments (Burgundy, Bordeaux again).

How has this quality/higher-value/ commercial opportunity circle been squared? Through increasing confidence among producers and a readjustment of consumer expectations.

As my fellow taster Beth Willard explains, less than a quarter of the genérico category reds (wines that don’t fall under the ageing-defined crianza/ reserva/gran reserva categories) we tasted fall in the below-€15 price range (in the domestic market).

While putting their wines forward – both for this report and commercially – producers assert a new awareness of their technical ability and stylistic identity, without the need to apologise for a higher price-tag.

Hitting the right note

At some point throughout the days spent tasting for this report we had jazz classics playing in the background (as pretentious as that sounds, it works better, as analogies go, than the 1980s pop hits we also played at some point…).

They drew an interesting parallel with the best wines we tasted – and certainly with the selections shown here.

A mix of structural mastery and personal style, of referential nod to tradition and breakthrough interpretation, of creative freedom framed by technical expertise, a sense of place validated by objective, universal quality parameters.

The best way to summarise the conclusions of this report is to describe our feelings when we wrapped it up: there was an ease to the intensity of the long days

of tasting; comfort in seeing the classics perform at their best; renewed excitement in wines whose unpretentious purity made them simply delicious; surprise and intrigue in identifying wines of note in every single flight.

See more results from the Rioja Tasting 2025

Best reserva & gran reserva wines

Best white wines

Best value

Fresh reds

Best rosados & claretes

Stand-out producers

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• Joven at heart: Rioja’s next winemaking generation

In Rioja, it’s no crime to be joven (meaning ‘young’) – it’s actually an advantage; and not just for the wines. There’s a current of youthful excitement running through the region, thanks to the latest new generation of winemakers who are more prepared than ever to take on the challenges of an uncertain future.

As it celebrates its centenary this year, DOCa Rioja is reckoning with changing consumer tastes and declining red wine consumption around the world.

Faced with a radical reconsideration of the region’s place in the wine world, Rioja’s young winemakers are injecting the appellation with a much-needed dose of energy, optimism and clarity.

They’re taking the reins of family wineries and setting their sights on a new idea of Rioja, while never rejecting the wisdom of the past.

For this new generation, it’s clear that the way forward is turning to terroir. It’s not an easy feat, by any means; the concept of place has never been the focus of the conversation here as it was in other regions.

Instead, when we talk about Rioja it’s usually about barrels, and in most wine textbooks any mention of regional terroir is limited to the three well-established sub-zones of Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental.

The Rioja regional consejo regulador has slowly ceded ground by allowing wines to be labelled as Vinos de Municipio, or now de Pueblo, and there’s also a process to designate a vineyard as a Viñedo Singular (single-vineyard), governed by strict requirements on farming and yields.

More recently, winemakers have been given permission to add the name of the village where the vineyards are located to labels.

Making the right noises

The winemakers profiled in the pages that follow are representative of a young (very young) new generation whose motto could be summed up as ‘place over process’.

They know that the best way to promote Rioja in an increasingly crowded wine world is to shout its terroir from the rooftops and make sure that this shines through in their wines.

They’re educated, well-travelled and uniquely positioned to move Rioja into a second century of success.

But most of all, they’re excited – about their villages, their vineyards and their region’s potential to be one of the 21st century’s most inspiring places to make wine.

Lucía Abando

Bodegas Las Orcas

At age 28, Lucía Abando is the sixth generation of grape-growers in her family and the fourth generation of winemakers in Laguardia, Rioja Alavesa.

When she was 15, she decided to join the family business, eventually completing a degree in agricultural engineering and a masters in winemaking.

Now, Abando has total independence in the vineyard, where she’s converting the family’s holdings to organic viticulture, recovering indigenous grapes and experimenting with single-parcel wines.

Abando takes pride in her commitment to a life in the vines. ‘Out of the 13 of us who grew up together, two of us still live in Laguardia,’ she says. ‘And I’m the only one working in the vineyard.’

Being a young woman in a field dominated by men isn’t always easy.

‘People have come up to me at wine fairs and asked, “Who are you, the sales manager? Where’s the real winemaker?”’ she says.

But Abando is quick to point out that despite the occasional negativity, there’s nothing she’d rather be doing.

She defines the generational shift as a rise in the numbers of young people who are enthusiastic about putting Rioja where it deserves to be.

‘We know how to listen to tradition,’ she says, ‘but we’re prepared to work in different ways.’

Abando points to the increase in village- and vineyard- specific wines as a sign of this new way of making Rioja. Above all, she says her generation knows how to have fun.

‘We all get along really well,’ she says. ‘It’s a very good vibe.’

Juan Valdelana

Bodegas Valdelana

Aged 32, Juan Valdelana is the third generation to bottle wine under the Valdelana label in Elciego, Rioja Alavesa, though the family involvement in producing its own wine stretches back to the 17th century.

Juan took over from his father Juan Jésus in 2013 at the age of 21, after working in wineries in California and the Canary Islands. ‘I’ve always wanted to make wine, ever since I was little,’ he says. ‘No one made me do this.’

Valdelana recognises that there could have been an easier path: ‘I have good friends in different careers who are very hardworking, but they can put in their 9-5 and go home. This winery is my life,’ he says.

But he emphasises that continuing a family legacy is its own reward. ‘For me, success is being with my family and facing the world together,’ he says.

Since taking over as winemaker, Valdelana has spent several years isolating vineyards to certify them under the DOCa’s Viñedo Singular designation. He believes Rioja is undergoing a return to terroir, and hopes that the current situation will give others the opportunity to expand family wineries or create projects of their own.

‘I think now it’s easier to get hold of land,’ he says. ‘Yes, the market is in a difficult place, but I think it’s a good thing for people who want to do something new.’

His advice to his fellow young people? Don’t underestimate the importance of hard work.

‘Instagram has done a lot of damage,’ he says. ‘You can project an image that’s far from the truth of this life. But in the end, everything is work and sacrifice.’

Javier Peciña

Bodegas Feco

Javier Peciña comes from a family of viticultores (grape-growers) in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, which is steadily gaining a reputation as a ‘grand cru’ village in northern Rioja Alta. He grew up in the winery, and remembers helping his father and uncle press the grapes they sold in bulk.

After completing a winemaking degree in 2020, he returned to the family winery and began to bottle wine from their best vineyards under the Bodegas Feco label.

‘My father and uncle supported me, because if we kept selling grapes we would just be dependent on the market,’ Peciña says. ‘This way, we can sell our own wine and have more control.’

Now aged 26, Peciña says some people were initially sceptical of his youth, but today the response is overwhelmingly supportive. ‘At first they wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a passing hobby,’ he explains. ‘They looked for continuity and now they’ve seen it.’

Despite his success, Peciña has concerns for the region’s future. ‘Wineries and families of growers are disappearing,’ he says. ‘People try to make it work for a year or two, but then they end up selling everything and working in a factory.’

But for Peciña, no other option would do. His uncle is now retired, and 2025 will be his father’s last harvest. ‘I consider this to be more than wine,’ he says.

‘Being the next generation is a really beautiful thing. And if I hadn’t kept going, my father and uncle would have spent their whole life working for nothing.’

José Gil

José Gil Vinos

After 10 years working side by side with his father and uncle in their winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, José Gil struck out on his own. His eponymous project is ‘a return to traditional methods using modern advancements’, he says.

Gil, 34, works with his wife Vicky Fernández to isolate the best parcels in and around San Vicente. He compares his model to that of Burgundy, as opposed to the Bordelais ‘house style’ method that generally prevails in Rioja.

Although his wines have been well received by critics, it wasn’t always this way. ‘Until you do something well, it’s difficult to establish credibility,’ Gil says.

He notes that young people tend to look for quick results – perhaps as a result of social media – but older generations need to guide them and let them experiment.

‘You also have to travel and get to know other ways of doing things,’ he says.

Gil has spent time in France, Germany, Portugal and the rest of Spain, but ‘you have to make Rioja in Rioja’, he continues. And besides the practical, it doesn’t hurt to love what you do.

‘You have to make money, but at the end of the day this needs to be something romantic,’ he says. ‘I feel like I’m on vacation all year.’

As far as the new generation goes, Gil is convinced the best is yet to come. ‘We need to mature as growers and winemakers, and above all, we have to be humble,’ he says. ‘Our greatest wines are still waiting to be made,’ he concludes.

Ricardo Fernández & David Fernández

Bodegas Abeica

Cousins Ricardo and David Fernández, 28 and 25 respectively, are the fifth generation to make wine and the third generation to bottle it at Bodegas Abeica in Abalos, Rioja Alta.

Both say they decided to join the family business out of love, not obligation – David’s brother and Ricardo’s sister both have careers outside wine.

Now, they’ve turned their focus to making single-varietal and single- vineyard wines from their best vineyards in addition to their flagship wines.

‘We make wines we like to drink, but we have to represent the village,’ David explains. ‘We’re lucky to have the vines we have, and we want to make wines that transmit the vineyard,’ adds Ricardo.

They see opportunities for the next generation in Rioja’s current difficulties. ‘It’s harder to get started if you’re not taking over from family, but there are a lot of vineyards available now and people can start little by little,’ says Ricardo. ‘And if someone wants to start a project, we’re all happy to help them,’ says David.

Asked to define the new generation, they answer with three phrases: ‘less is more’, ‘focus on the origin’, and ‘more wines made in the vineyard and fewer in the winery’.

Their approach to innovation is cautious; they want to respect tradition and implement any changes bit by bit.

‘It’s an honour to work the way our ancestors did. But if we had kept on doing things the same way, then we wouldn’t be able to consider ourselves part of a new generation,’ says Ricardo.

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Join us on Saturday 7 June in New York City as we raise a glass to Rioja DOCa – Spain’s most iconic wine region – at a special centenary edition of the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter.

The day features the famous Grand Tasting, which promises a world-class wine experience showcasing over 300 fine wines from over 50 top producers. Guests will also enjoy standout selections from the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards — the world’s largest wine competition, including Gold, Platinum and Best in Show winners.

Among the international producers, Rioja DOCa takes centre stage, with an exclusive tasting bar, a masterclass and standout wines showcased across Rioja producer stands (this part needs re wording)

Discover 29 Rioja wines across the bar and producer stands

Experience 29 handpicked Rioja wines available at the Rioja Bar and producer stands — from historic estates to trailblazing newcomers, the selection reflects the region’s extraordinary diversity and depth. Enjoy unlimited pours from icons such as CVNE, Bodegas Queirón, Bodegas LAN, Marqués de Cáceres, to name a few.

Notable highlights include:

• Martínez Lacuesta, 125 Años Gran Reserva, Rioja 2010 – 94 points
• Bodegas Remirez de Ganuza 2014 – 94 points
• Bodegas Alvia, Livius Reserva Blanco, Rioja, Spain 2018 – 93 points
• Bodegas LAN, Culmen Reserva, Rioja, Spain 2019 – 93 points

Access to the Rioja Bar is included with all Grand Tasting tickets — $225 per person.

EXPLORE THE FULL RIOJA BAR LINE-UP

Rioja DOCa masterclass

4:00 pm –5:15pm | $165 per person

For those looking to delve deeper into Rioja’s legacy, an exclusive masterclass will be held, hosted by Master Sommelier Jonathan Eichholz and Decanter’s Ines Salpico, offering a guided journey through 100 years of Rioja winemaking. Taste your way through the past, present and future of Rioja with a stunning line-up of iconic wines — from rare Gran Reservas to collectible modern expressions. Featured producers include La Rioja Alta, Marqués de Murrieta, Remírez de Ganuza, CVNE, Montecillo, and more.

Spaces are very limited!

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Skyline lunch with complimentary Rioja wines

In between tastings, take a moment to relax for a buffet-style lunch overlooking the Manhattan skyline, paired with a selection of complimentary wines courtesy of our sponsors Rioja DOCa. It’s the perfect palate refresher in the midst of a busy tasting day.

Pre-booking is advised, though walk-ins are welcome pending availability.

Complimentary wine selection:

White

Bodegas Manzanos Blanco Fermentado en Barrica 2020

*

Rosé

Hacienda López de Haro, Clásica Gran Reserva Rosado, Rioja, Spain 2013

*

Red

Vina Muriel, Solariego Tinto Vino de Elciego, Alavesa 2019

Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja Alta, Spain 2016

Bodegas Riojanas, Viña Albina Gran Reserva, Rioja Alta 2004

Don’t miss this world-class wine experience in the heart of New York City. Discover why Rioja remains Spain’s most respected fine wine region — 100 years on.

BOOK A LUNCH WITH A VIEW

Essential information

DFWE NYC

Date: Saturday 7 June 2025 from 11am to 5pm

Location: Bay Room at Manhatta, 28 Liberty Street, 60th Floor

New York, NY 10005

Price: Grand Tasting tickets from $225 + US sales tax | Masterclass tickets from $165

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Each year on a warm September day, throngs of people pack the square in front of Logroño’s city hall to kick off San Mateo, a week-long party held to honour St Matthew and celebrate the grape harvest.

Singing, dancing and jumping up and down, they’re decked out in bandanas and drinking from wineskins slung around their necks – a staple of Rioja wine culture.

What the revellers might not realise is that these wineskins are in imminent danger of extinction. One day, they might disappear, along with the last man dedicated to the craft of making them.

Last man standing

Iván Barbero is the fifth generation in his family to make botas de vino: leather wineskins that have been used in Spain since Roman times.

He’s also the last botero still working in Rioja, heir to a family tradition that began in 1830, when his ancestors took over a longstanding workshop in Calle Marqués de San Nicolás, in Logroño’s historic centre.

Iván’s father Félix moved the operation to a larger site on nearby Calle Sagasta in 1981, where he worked making wineskins until he abruptly became ill and had to retire in 2023.

Rather than let the tradition die, Iván decided to close the bricks-and-mortar store and move to a workshop on Logroño’s outskirts. ‘I do this because I want to. No one is forcing me,’ Iván explains.

We’re speaking on the phone at six in the evening, and he tells me he’s at the workshop to get started on some orders that have come in.

He works full-time in a factory and makes wineskins in his spare time.

‘Some days I’m here for six hours; some days I’m not here at all. It depends on the time I have and what my body can do,’ he says. ‘Some days you get tendonitis in your hands or your body hurts… It used to be my father and my grandfather, too; now it’s just me, the scissors and a needle and thread. It’s all done by hand and very intense.’

Labour of love

Iván makes the wineskins from goat hide, which is cut into a characteristic teardrop shape and sewn together.

He turns the pieces inside out and treats what will be the inside with a sealant – traditionally a resin called pez, but now food-grade latex, less than half a millimetre thick.

Then he adds a plastic cap and a braided cord so the bota can be worn around the neck or over the shoulders. Iván says he can make about 20 botas a day at his best, which means he sometimes turns down large orders.

‘The money I make from the botas varies from month to month, but I don’t do it for the money. I do it for the pleasure of being able to say that the craft isn’t going to be lost.’

Despite his love for the trade, Iván isn’t optimistic about the future. At 47 years old, he’s the youngest botero in Spain.

There are only about eight left in the entire country, and he doubts that anyone will take over from them.

‘Every year there are fewer of us, but no one seems to care. People seem to take it for granted. There’s no aid from the government and there’s no interest in publicising what we do,’ he says.

Iván is adamant that this is a family business and says that if no one in his family wants to carry on, he’ll close up shop for good. He has two daughters, but he tells me that if it were up to him, he wouldn’t want them to take over.

‘It’s a hard job. I want them to grow up around the botas and know what it takes to make them, but I want them to study and have the career that they want,’ he says.

But when I press him, he agrees that you never know. ‘I didn’t think that I would end up a botero,’ he says. ‘But life is funny. When my dad got sick, I didn’t give it a second thought. I simply had to carry on.’

How to order your handmade goatskin bota

The best way to order a wineskin is through Iván’s online store botasrioja.com.

He ships within Spain and internationally. He asks for patience since he works by himself and all of the botas are made to order, but he will respond to every order.

Contact: info@botasrioja.com; +34 620 738 504

Those visiting Rioja can also purchase botas at the following shops in regional capital Logroño and at the skiing destination Ezcaray:

• Conservas Lodosilla Calle Sagasta 6, Logroño

• Tierra de Sabores Calle Benemérito Cuerpo de la Guardia Civil 2, Logroño

• La Lucí Delicatessen Gourmet Calle Portales 3, Logroño

• Ferretería Casado Avenida Pérez Galdós 59 bajo, Logroño

• El Colmado de Ezcaray Calle Sagastía 5, Ezcaray

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The Civil Rights bill passes in the US and the Olympics are held in Tokyo; Italy wins Eurovision and the Australian men’s cricket team takes home the Ashes in the English summer, again: 1964.

In 2001, the world is reeling from the September 11 attacks, the iconic French film Amélie is released, and Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me is the UK’s bestselling single (not a great year for music!).

These were years of political upheaval and diverse cultural events, and two of the greatest vintages ever produced in Rioja.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 brilliant wines from the celebrated Rioja 2021 vintage

Julio Sáenz, the head winemaker at La Rioja Alta, explains: ‘For the generation before mine, the vintage that everyone talked about was 1964; for my generation, the great vintage was 2001.’

And now? ‘2021! The younger generation in Rioja are very excited by this vintage and many people believe that it could rival those two great years.’

While the young 2021s have been and gone, wines from this vintage that require longer maturation are only just beginning to appear in the market. These include wines from some of the top vineyard sites and the region’s best-known producers.

Favourable conditions

If we divide Rioja vintages in a simplistic way into Mediterranean and Atlantic years, 2021 falls firmly into the latter category.

Rain in early September offset some of the drought conditions experienced earlier in the year. Warm days, cool nights, a slow growing season: near perfect conditions to produce perfectly balanced grapes.

Despite the excellent results of the vintage, the Rioja region’s consejo officially classified 2021 only as ‘Very good’, rather than its top rating ‘Excellent’.

This is most likely due to an episode of hail in June, which caused some damage, thereby lowering yields in some parts of the region

And the wines?

Quite simply, stunning! Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, owner of Marqués de Murrieta, loves the ‘incredible’ 2021 tannins. ‘You have the elegance of 2020 and the muscle of 2019,’ he enthuses.

The result? ‘The wines have a wonderful potential to age in bottle but also offer a silkiness and immediate appeal while young.’

I’m hesitant to use the word ‘textbook’ – does it imply something too crafted?

Let’s say that 2021 certainly showcases all the best elements of the Rioja region: structure and intensity; beauty and poise.

The outstanding wines of this vintage offer so much pleasure right now due to those wonderful, ripe tannins and a varietal purity that delivers a panoply of Rioja’s herbal, floral and fruit character.

But with such impressive muscle and elegant acidity, this is a vintage that will reward patience. For those content to delay gratification, or with an eye for investment, 2021 is built for the long haul and demands cellaring.

The selection that follows

With these 18 recommendations, I have tried to offer a wide range of wine styles and grape varieties from Rioja.

Wines come from right across the region, and from both very well-known and up-and-coming producers, and from others. The scores are necessarily very high because, well, the wines are very good!

In some cases, the 2021 vintage is already in the market, but for others we need to wait a few more months (which explains why we were not able to taste most of these wines for inclusion in our recent-release report).

It will be worth the wait.

See notes and scores for 18 fabulous 2021 Riojas

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Become a Decanter Premium subscriber now and read the latest Rioja Report 2025

Use code RIOJA25 and get 20% off your subscription.

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López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia, Rioja

First vintage: 1913

Among the world’s most recognisable vineyard names, López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia has become a brand in its own right.

Its Reserva is treasured as one of Spain’s most accessible icons, both stylistically and budget-wise, consistently delivering power and poise, drinkability and staying power, quality and value.

See below for a must-try vintage of López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia

The exceptional vintages, which after more time in barrel become Gran Reservas, on the other hand, command significantly higher prices in both the primary and secondary markets. Likewise, Tondonia’s white and rosé iterations are among Spain’s most collectible – and unique – wines of both categories.

Now in the capable hands of fourth-generation María José López de Heredia, the winery is determinedly committed to tradition and heritage.

‘We are obsessed with not changing our style,’ she says. ‘It’s not only what our customers want but also what we believe in. We want our wines to reflect our land and region, Rioja Alta, as well as the history that brought us to the present. We are faithful to both our viticultural and oenological traditions.’

Founder Rafael López de Heredia built the eponymous winery in Haro in 1877 and, after nearly three decades as a bulk wine trader, began the establishment of the vineyards that now provide the only source of fruit to Bodegas López de Heredia’s wines: Tondonia, Bosconia, Cubillo and Gravonia.

Replanted between 1901 and 1907 after being decimated by phylloxera, Tondonia covers just over 100ha on the right bank of a meander of the Ebro in Rioja Alavesa.

Tempranillo makes up the majority of plantings, with smaller percentages of Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo (Cariñena), Viura and Malvasía. ‘Every vintage is a challenge. Quality is a goal that can never be seen as achieved. Experience can give us confidence but the character [of the wines] is built every day,’ says María José.

‘All generations have had to work hard, with constancy, inquisitiveness, conviction and a deep understanding of nature.’

Constancy is indeed what first comes to mind when thinking of Viña Tondonia and its wines, which have a strong character but soft edges, are comforting but never boring, unapologetic yet unassuming – just what you expect an icon to be.

The wine to try before you die

López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Reserva, Rioja, 2012 – 94pts

£27.50 (ib)-£56 Widely available via UK independents US$55-$72 Widely available

70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, bottled in January 2022, having matured in 225L American oak barrels for six years.

All you can expect from a classical Viña Tondonia with its focused intensity and muscular yet very elegant tannins. At once assertive and silky, with juicy red and blue fruit gliding over the palate while being pleasantly pulled back by an energetic, iodine verve.

Subtle, hovering, brooding notes of tobacco, mocha and wet forest floor.

Drink: 2025-2040 Alcohol: 13%

Spanish Icons: López de Heredia, Viña Tondionia

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Andy Howard MW, Eugenio Egorov and David Williams tasted 110 wines, with 32 Highly Recommended

Value Spanish Tempranillo: Panel tasting scores

110 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 0

Highly recommended 32

Recommended 71

Commended 7

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release still dry red wines of any Spanish classification (DOCa, DO, Vino de la Tierra, Vino de España) made from minimum 85% Tempranillo (or any accepted synonym, such as Tinta de Toro, Tinta del Pais, Tinto Fino). Maximum price €12 in the domestic market, £15 in the UK

Although this tasting didn’t result in any Outstanding awards, these Tempranillo-dominant wines retailing at £15 or less put on a good show. The judges were surprised and delighted to taste so many elegant, mature and great-value wines.

Of 110 wines tasted, 32 (29%) were awarded 90 points or more (Silver medal equivalent), with a highest score of 94pts. A further 71 wines were Recommended.

In total, 93.6% were Highly recommended or Recommended – a strong result given the price constraints.

Scroll down to see notes and scores of the top-scoring wines from our value Spanish Tempranillo tasting

Wines perpetually punching above their weight

Considering the price of the wines, David Williams was impressed: ‘“Value” in the title of a tasting can lower expectations. But this line-up genuinely represented excellent value.’

Andy Howard MW agreed: ‘From virtually no other country could mature, expressive and well-made wines be found at values even vaguely comparable to these.’

Eugenio Egorov felt that ‘the wines exhibited a vibrant, expressive style, with a reduced reliance on oak allowing the underlying fruit to shine through, resulting in wines that were more elegant, with a strong sense of identity’.

Howard summed up the panel’s views: ‘We saw very well-made wines that expressed both the grape variety and their region, many at their peak, yet many still with a long life ahead.’

Rioja proved to be both the largest entry and highest performing DO with 24 (almost 36%) wines out of a total of 67 being awarded 90pts or more. In terms of vintages, 2021 was the strongest performer, displaying the quality of this highly rated, cooler year.

There’s no hurry to drink most of these wines, while the amazing ability of Rioja to age was demonstrated by the two 2015-vintage wines tasted.

Both scored 92pts, with the judges giving drinking windows up to 2034 – a remarkable testament to the ability of these modestly priced wines to age.

See all the wines from the value Spanish Tempranillo tasting

What to eat with value Tempranillo, by Fiona Beckett

Although the tasting is headlined Tempranillo, we’re mainly talking inexpensive Rioja here, and the good news is it’s a hugely versatile wine, not least with the simple, inexpensive meals we all tend to make at this time of year.

Think sausage and mash, shepherd’s (and cottage) pie, even mince on toast.

Tempranillo is also surprisingly good with meat dishes that have a touch of spice, especially lamb curries such as rogan josh, or a tagine. On the veggie front, anything based on beans should work.

Inexpensive Tempranillo is a good wine to choose in a tapas bar or for a tapas spread at home. And a great glass with a late-night nibble of cheese – especially sheep’s cheese such as Manchego.

Older vintages, which might be regarded as more of a treat, are great to bring out with a Sunday roast or a pot roast or pheasant casserole, making the best of the last of the season’s game.

Value Spanish Tempranillo panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Andy Howard MW is a Decanter contributing editor and DWWA Regional Chair. A retail wine buyer for more than 30 years, he now runs his own consultancy Vinetrades, focusing on wine education, judging, investment and sourcing

Eugenio Egorov is head sommelier at AA five-star The Stafford in London. Born in Ukraine, he began his hospitality career in restaurants in Italy and Florida, USA, before moving to London in 2014, where he rose through the ranks as a sommelier at the likes of 45 Park Lane and The Dorchester

David Williams is wine correspondent for The Observer, a regular contributor to Decanter on all things Spanish, and a widely published wine writer, author and competition judge

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La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890, Rioja

First vintage: 1890

The Gran Reserva 890 remains La Rioja Alta’s flagship and most symbolic wine, produced only in vintages deemed of sufficient quality, from selected plots of bush-trained vines in Rioja Alta, aged no less than 50 years.

The wine flew under the radar of collectors and investors until recently.

Scroll down for one vintage of Gran Reserva 890 all wine lovers should try

’A few years ago we started seeing it in auctions, private collections and in vertical listings of top restaurants,’ says Guillermo de Aranzabal, president of La Rioja Alta.

Ageworthiness, powerful classicism and scarcity (as an example, between 2005 and 2015, only four vintages – 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2015 – were produced) are among the reasons that collectors and investors finally caught up with it.

The wine’s name is a nod to the producer’s origins: the Sociedad Vinícola de La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 as a partnership between five families from Rioja and the Basque Country.

The first wine produced by the company, released that same year, was the Reserva 1890, precursor of today’s Gran Reserva 890 (the first digit was dropped during the 1890s to avoid confusion with the vintage).

Since then, La Rioja Alta has grown to become a prominent wine group, with four wineries in Rioja, Rías Baixas and Ribera del Duero, producing exclusively from its own 800ha of vineyards.

The style of 890 remains very much its own, marked by the signature influence of American oak, imparted by barrels produced at La Rioja Alta’s in-house cooperage from outdoor-aged wood.

Still, there have been slight adjustments. ‘We’ve replaced the last two rackings [done every six months] with top-ups, to avoid excessive oxidation and release the wines fresher and a little less evolved,’ explains Aranzabal. ‘We’ve also reduced the time in barriques from eight to six years.’

But he’s quick to clarify that, when producing wines such as 890, the work requires ‘the differentiation between fashions and trends – the former are transient, while the latter endure’. So, he says: ‘If a wine ages for a total of 15 years in the winery, you need to avoid following fads and be mindfully aware of trends.’

This stance, and the uncompromising style of 890, is somewhat courageous, definitely against the zeitgeist, making one feel the privilege of tasting a slice of history. Even sceptics of American oak (and traditional Rioja) will appreciate the confident ability shown by 890.

The wine to try before you die

La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890, Rioja, 2010 – 95pts

£170-£200 Widely available via UK agent Hallgarten Wines / US$230-$300 Widely available

Tempranillo with 2% Mazuelo (Cariñena) and 3% Graciano fermented separately, with the best batches selected and left to rest in American oak barrels, 20% new, for six years; the best 236 barrels were bottled, unfiltered, in March 2017.

True to itself – and the character of the 2010 vintage – this combines lovely fruit purity, sweet spiciness and elegant smokiness. Plum, red cherries and redcurrant jam are infused with vanilla, toasted coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg and cocoa nibs. Powdery, firm tannins widen the mid-palate, but there’s lovely focus and sharp linearity throughout.

Drink: 2025-2045 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva 890

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Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja

First vintage: 1969

Only produced in exceptional vintages, Prado Enea uses a selection of the best and later-harvested grapes from Muga’s plots on the northwestern edge of Rioja Alta, at around 500m-600m.

Its ageworthiness and laidback classicism have made it – vintage variation notwithstanding – one of the safest and best-valued options among investment-worthy Spanish wines. It strikes an interesting balance between classical and more modern Rioja, and this makes it a good entry point, both stylistically and budget-wise, for budding collectors.

Winemaker Manuel Muga explains that the age of the vines, in tandem with climate change, will further limit the quantity of Prado Enea produced in the future, adding that ‘the most important [thing] is that quality will always prevail over quantity’.

Scroll down for a must-try recommendation of Prado Enea

Prado Enea is also a symbol of the continuity and evolution of Bodegas Muga, which was founded in 1932 in the centre of Haro by Isaac Muga and Aurora Caño. Second-generation Manuel, Isabel and Isaac took the helm in 1969, following their father’s passing.

The siblings moved the winery’s headquarters to sprawling stone barracks – built in 1862 and purchased by Muga in 1967 – in the historical Barrio de la Estación, in Haro’s outskirts. Formerly owned by Dionisio de Prado, the building was known locally as Prado Enea (a Basque influenced designation akin to ‘the house of Prado’).

The family decided to pay homage to this heritage by thus naming its new Gran Reserva.

‘Although we will never lose the essence of Prado Enea, we are aware of the need to adapt,’ Manuel explains. In recent years, freshness and elegance have gained more prominence, without sacrificing depth and complexity.

‘This challenge [to adapt], extends to the winery team, which has been able to combine oenological tradition with the technical innovations that improve the wine’s quality without changing its identity. Evolution is not just a product of [the conditions of each] vintage, but also of the team’s ability to learn and adapt without losing sight of what makes us unique.’

The wine to try before you die

Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva, Rioja, 2005 – 94pts

£55 (ib)-£90 Berry Bros & Rudd, Bordeaux Index, Burnett & Herbert, Crop & Vine, Fine & Rare, Lay & Wheeler, Seckford, Vintage Drinks US$180-$245 Maison Mura, The Spanish Table, Total Wine & More

80% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, picked late then native-yeast fermented in 10,000L oak vats with no temperature control; the wine was aged in 16,000L oak vats for 12 months, then a minimum of 36 months in oak casks and a minimum of 36 months in the bottle.

Showing beautiful, balanced development two decades on, with enduring vibrancy on the palate and a mineral quality to the tannic framework.The juicy blueberry, bramble and mulberry fruit is heavily but elegantly cloaked in tobacco leaves, dried rose petals, mushrooms, black olives and chestnuts.

Fragrant wet soil notes lift the nuances of mountain herbs, and it has a very long finish with lingering sweet spice and poached plums.

Drink: 2025-2027 Alcohol: 13.5%

Spanish Icons: Muga, Prado Enea Gran Reserva

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Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco, Rioja

First vintage: 1917

It’s difficult to capture in words the experience of tasting Marqués de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco.

Not only does it offer a singular, complex combination of aromas and flavours, but it also brings the essence of wine to the forefront: a product of human craftsmanship capable of bringing into question the inexorability of time.

If the red Castillo Ygay can be categorised as iconic, its white counterpart verges on ‘unicorn’ status. To say that Castillo Ygay Reserva Especial Blanco is highly collectible and scarcely available is an understatement; the most recent release, of the 1986 vintage (bottled in 2014), still doesn’t have a successor announced.

Scroll down for the vintage of Castillo Ygay Blanco to try before you die

Since it was first produced in 1917, only 13 vintages have been released. It relies on Viura and Malvasía grapes (some vintages are single-varietal Viura) from the Capellanía site, planted in 1945.

Aged for about two decades in barrel and – in the case of the 1986 – a further 67 months in concrete, it’s a resolutely traditional white Rioja that, with each release, rewards time and patience.

A true pioneer of modern Bordeaux-inspired Rioja, Don Luciano Murrieta founded the winery in 1852 near Logroño. The entrepreneurial aristocrat was among the first to release, and the first to export, Rioja wines after phylloxera derailed French production.

In 1983, Marqués de Murrieta Estates and Wines was purchased by the Cebrián-Sagarriga family, with second-generation Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, the 11th Conde de Creixell, currently at the helm.

The Galician family remained faithful to Murrieta’s heritage and style, while also consolidating its premium focus.

Marqués de Murrieta produces exclusively from its own vineyard: the sprawling, continuous 300ha Finca Ygay. Within it, three plots – Canajas, La Plana and Capellanía – have been singled out for the production of the winery’s top wines.

Among them is the flagship Castillo Ygay, named after the historical structure at the centre of the estate, converted into a museum in 2019.

The wine to try before you die

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo de Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Blanco, Rioja 1986, 99pts

£705-£1,000 (ib) Berry Bros & Rudd, Fine & Rare US$950-$1,100 Binny’s, Connecticut Avenue Wine & Liquor, Italian Wine Merchants, Wally’s

97% Viura and 3% Malvasía, aged for 21 years in 225L American oak barrels, then a further 67 months settling in concrete tanks.

A complex, nuanced and sinuous journey through the palate, expertly balancing nutty depth, floral allure and zesty freshness. Intense, well-defined flavours of pickled walnut, linden, wet hay, camomile, preserved lemon, red apple peel, quince and nectarine fill the mouth without ever becoming weighty. Incredible structure – outlined by intense spiciness – and depth.

Finishes with luscious honey, pain aux raisins and toasted brioche.

Drink: 2025-2038 Alcohol: 13.5%

Spanish Icons: Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay Blanco

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It’s impossible to will, or proclaim, the creation of an icon. Any Hollywood talent agent worth their salt will tell you as much. And yet, when achieved, icon status is undisputable.

So what does the process of becoming an icon entail? What makes the 10 Spanish wines we’ve chosen worthy of the description? The answer is never straightforward. Producers themselves acknowledge that there is, despite their recognised efforts and focus on quality, an element of serendipity made of fortunate encounters and of the sometimes baffling flux of history.

Still, luck and historical relevance need to be met by a combination of winemaking excellence, expert viticulture and privileged terroirs. The 10 icons of Spanish wine highlighted in the coming pages share two common denominators: individuality and consistency of style and quality.

These allow them to remain firmly above fleeting fashions, standing out not just as benchmark examples of their regions but also as symbols of rigour, professionalism and strength of character.

They are faithful to their time and place but, above all, to themselves.

Scroll down for a great modern vintage of CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva

Most importantly, however, these are incredible tasting experiences that demonstrate Spain’s increasing strength as a source of fine wine – of icons old and new. Some of them command exorbitant prices – but it’s worth pooling with a group of friends to try a bottle at least once. You won’t regret it.

The robustness of this list, and the fact that other names – such as Dominio del Aguila’s Canta la Perdiz from Ribera del Duero or Terroir Al Límit’s Les Manyes Priorat – would have been included, space allowing, shows how the last 150 years have been punctuated by chapters of outstanding evolution in the narrative of Spanish winemaking.

Perhaps inevitably heavy on Rioja ‘first growths’, this line-up nevertheless reflects evolution and change. The emergence of Priorat in the 1990s and the rediscovery of Gredos (and Garnacha) in the 2010s have questioned the attributes of modern classics – and it’s this self-questioning that makes Spain such an enduring source of wine discovery and fascination.

Spanish Icons: CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja

First vintage: 1917

I don’t know if Imperial is our best wine, but it represents our soul,’ says Víctor Urrutia Ybarra, CEO of CVNE.

‘It was the first “great wine” of Rioja. Until Imperial came around, Rioja estates – including ourselves – mostly produced one wine, with a focus on quantity. In my opinion, Imperial was the first wine produced with excellence in mind, capturing the essence of Rioja Alta.’

More than 100 years after its first vintage, Imperial endures as a symbol of classical modern Rioja – and of the prestige of CVNE, founded in 1879 in Haro by brothers Eusebio and Raimundo Real de Asúa, of whom Urrutia is a direct descendant.

The fruit used to produce Imperial – in selected vintages only – hails from 42ha of estate-owned plots in the villages of Villalba, Briones and Torremontalbo planted with Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo (Cariñena) and Garnacha.

Vinification takes place in a dedicated winery within CVNE’s compound in Haro, with each plot fermented separately in French oak foudres. Barrel ageing takes place in the atmospheric Eiffel cellar, designed by the French engineer and built in 1909.

When discussing the wine’s evolution, Urrutia says: ‘Imperial hasn’t changed much. The only significant adjustment might be the use of oak: we now use exclusively French oak, while 100 years ago we used American oak. But overall, we don’t seek changes.’

Having staged multiple extensive vertical tastings, Urritia says that, for him, the best examples of Imperial are from the 1940s and ’50s. ‘Our goal is to produce a [Imperial] wine like the 1947, ’52 or ’59… with incredible acidity and a lot of structure,’ he says. ‘Our future is in our past.’

The wine to try before you die

CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja 2017 – 96pts

£40 (ib)-£65 Burnett & Herbert, Cuchet & Co, Davy’s, Falcon Vintners, Farr Vintners, Honest Grapes, Primitus, The Wine Society, VinQuinn, Vintage Cellars US$90-$106 Binny’s, Gillette Ridge, Station Plaza, Total Wine & More, W&J Wine, Yiannis

85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, fermented in small oak vats with malolactic in concrete, then aged in new and second-use oak barrels, 70% French plus American. A bit coiled upon opening, this opens slowly in the glass, revealing beautiful nuance, fragrant herbal details and savoury complexity underneath the brooding restraint.

Top notes of vanilla, charred oak, camphor and preserved cherry. Fresh and exact on the palate, with dark chocolate and coffee beans lining the muscular tannins. Very long finish, supported by a firm acid backbone.

Drink: 2025-2045 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva

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As recently as five years ago it would have been hard to consistently find white Riojas on wine shelves. For many UK consumers, ‘white Rioja’ might in fact have sounded like an oxymoron, the region’s name being associated with the red iterations that have become pantry staples.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 18 best-value white Rioja wines to try

However, in the third decade of the 21st century, white wines from Spain’s most famous wine region have emerged as one of the most exciting, fast-evolving categories not only of Spanish but of European wine at large. Today, most retailers list one white Rioja, if not more, and many – as is the case in this selection for The Wine Society, Tesco and Marks & Spencer – as part of their own ranges.

A fortunate combination of factors has allowed the style to increase its visibility and popularity. Greater demand for white wines, along with mounting prices from classic regions – not least Burgundy – happened just as Riojan producers rediscovered the region’s potential beyond reds, thus expanding their portfolios to reach a wider audience. For consumers, this means that a category that previously was mostly the domain of connoisseurs and collectors has now broadened its availability and its appeal – stylistically as well as price-wise.

Styles to explore

Most white Riojas are either single-variety or blends based on Viura. The generous-yielding, unfussy variety – elsewhere known as Macabeo/Macabeu – accounts for 68% of the area planted to white grapes in Rioja (and 6.1% of total vineyard area, according to DOCa Rioja data) and this dominance is reflected in the wines’ makeup. Winemakers explore Viura’s aromatic and textural potential differently, though, with some examples relying more on the exuberant orchard fruit and creamy citrus while others remain more restrained. Restraint leaves space for nuance, though, allowing herbal and vegetal subtleties to come to the forefront. Viura also has a Chardonnay-like affinity with wood, and well-judged oak adds a welcome nuttiness and smokiness for truly food-friendly – in many cases ageworthy – wines.

But winemakers are also taking advantage of the wider palette of varieties at their disposal. Of the other eight white grapes allowed by the DOCa, three stand out for their character and potential: Tempranillo Blanco, Maturana Blanca and Malvasía. Adding a splash of the latter to Viura is very common, lifting the fruit core with subtle floral notes. But I find that Tempranillo Blanco – a light-skinned natural mutation of the red of the same name that was discovered in 1988 in a vineyard southeast of Logroño – is yielding some of the region’s most interesting wines, both blended and on its own. With high acid and a poised structure, it holds fruit with ease while conveying a real sense of place.

Cellaring options

The selection of 18 wines that follows offers a great opportunity to begin an upwards journey; a first step in the discovery of wines that, at the higher end of the price spectrum, have begun to take up cellar space previously occupied by white Burgundy. From the lower shelf to the highest, there’s quality and value to be found. Many of the suggestions here have ‘bigger siblings’ – such as Sierra de Toloño’s Nahikun (2023, £27-£30 Lea & Sandeman, Ultracomida), López de Haro’s Classica Gran Reserva (2013, £42.95-£46.50 NY Wines, The Good Spirits Co), or Muga’s Flor de Muga (2021, £36 Laithwaites) – which you might want to discover if you’ve enjoyed their more affordable counterparts.

Best-value white Rioja: 18 top buys

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In 1998, I won a scholarship for my results in the WSET diploma exam. The prize was an excellent – and looking back, formative – self-drive tour to wineries right across northern Spain, finishing in Barcelona.

I can still recall the discussion with the organiser. He said: ‘There is a place you could visit on this trip, it’s called Priorat. But it’s all a bit new and difficult to get to. I don’t recommend it.’

Instead, I finished the journey with a terrific evening at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for seven wines from the great Alvaro Palacios

From Priorat to the world

The football seemed sufficient reward; I didn’t realise until much later what I had missed. When I finally made it to Priorat, I was lucky enough to have as my first stop a visit to Alvaro Palacios, the man who opened my eyes to this unique region.

He had been part of the ‘Gang of Five’ (along with René Barbier, Carles Pastrana, Josep Lluís Pérez and Daphne Glorian) who, from 1989, made the first wines in the revival of this isolated, impoverished region, and who all went on to make names both for themselves and for Priorat.

I remember Alvaro (he’s one of those people the world talks about in firstname terms – a bit like ‘Nigella’ Lawson to home cooks) talked about the mystic, magical spirit of the place. It was unusual.

As DWWA judge Amaya Cervera, who runs the award-winning bilingual website Spanish Wine Lover, told me: ‘When he talks about wines, he hardly uses any technical terms. He prefers to express himself in a more spiritual, almost poetic way.’

Alvaro Palacios, what and where: the facts

Alvaro Palacios Gratallops, DOQ/DOCa Priorat

Total vineyard area: 35ha

Wines produced: L’Ermita GVC, Finca Dofí VC, Les Aubaguetes GVC, La Baixada VC, Gratallops VV, Les Terrasses, Camins del Priorat

Descendientes de J Palacios Corullón, DO Bierzo

Total vineyard area: 47ha

Wines produced: La Faraona VP, Las Lamas VP, Al Chelo VP, Moncerbal VP, Valdafoz VP, Villa de Corullón VV, Pétalos Palacios Remondo Alfaro, DOCa Rioja Total vineyard area 100ha Wines produced Propiedad, Finca La Montesa, Plácet de Valtomelloso, Valdelareina

Alvaro Palacios Alfaro, DOCa Rioja

Total vineyard area: 10ha

Wines produced: Quiñón de Valmira VS

Key

GVC: Gran Vinya Classificada

VC: Vinya Classificada

VP: Vino de Paraje

VV: Vino de Vila/Villa

VM: Vino de Municipio

VS: Viñedo Singular

(Bierzo DO has also introduced Viña Clasificada and Gran Viña Clasificada classifications, with the first VC wines due to be released soon)

Alvaro trained in France and worked under Jean-Pierre Moueix at Petrus in Pomerol. He returned with a clear vision. ‘My time in France with fine wine made me believe that Spain had the same qualities,’ he says.

‘Wine is an element of every ritual: social, cultural, religious. A great wine is not fabricated – it reflects centuries of history, tradition. That’s what I look for in a classic fine wine.’

Alvaro is one of nine children born (in Alfaro in March 1964) to the owners of Rioja’s Palacios Remondo. Rather than returning from France to the safety of his family’s estate, however, he forged a path of his own.

His single-mindedness has led him to raise to international renown the reputations of three denominations: first Priorat, then Bierzo and finally Rioja Oriental. What was the hardest part?

‘I suppose the beginning in Priorat. That was economically difficult. But I saw clearly that it would be a success. The stars were aligned: Spain was opening up, my generation could travel, a global market was available to us.’

Mannie Berk, founder of California-based The Rare Wine Co, was one of the guests at Alvaro’s 60th birthday party at Descendientes de J Palacios, the Bierzo winery, earlier this year, an event also celebrating 25 years of the Bierzo project and the arrival of Alvaro’s daughter Lola to the business.

Berk remembers: ‘In 1998, a very prominent collector called me and asked if I had heard of Alvaro Palacios. I hadn’t, because he was completely off the radar in the US then. I was on my way to Spain so I faxed Alvaro to see if we could meet – and it was one of those meetings you never forget.

‘He was so charismatic. By the time lunch finished, I’d asked if I could be his US importer.’

An icon is born

Initially, Alvaro had been guided to Priorat by René Barbier. ‘I was looking for a mystic, monastic place, and Priorat made such a strong impression on me.’ Alvaro was the youngest of the Gang of Five.

His first wine was Clos Dofí, after his own nickname (dofí means ‘dolphin’ in Catalan). That wine is known today as Finca Dofí (see recommendations, below). The first vintage of his top wine L’Ermita was 1993 – it made his name and shone an international spotlight on Priorat. Alvaro had purchased a tiny vineyard, planted mainly to Garnacha, of schist and quartz, steep and rocky at 350m-430m, and topped by a shrine or ermita: the essence of the mysticism and history he seeks.

What has added to the L’Ermita legend is that he priced it unusually high for the then-unknown region, and the wine was received with electric excitement. Alvaro had a point to make, and the market was ready for icon wines and icon prices.

Terroir-driven expansion

Alvaro’s next project was Bierzo. As with Priorat, he says: ‘I had a vision for Bierzo – I saw that it would take us 10 years, and it did.’ His nephew Ricardo Pérez (pictured, above), with whom Alvaro partnered to get Descendientes de J Palacios off the ground, had found an exceptional terroir there.

They make a great pair: where Alvaro is all about passionate intensity, Pérez appears more laid-back. Pérez is the one who has driven the introduction of biodynamics, and who, together with Alvaro, has done detailed work to create the ‘grand cru’ pyramid-type classification structures – from village to single-vineyard wines – that now exist in Priorat and Bierzo.

The third, and largest, of the three wineries is the original family business in Alfaro, Rioja, in what was historically the less-regarded Rioja Baja sub-region. It’s called Rioja Oriental (‘eastern’) now, and Alvaro’s return in 1999 to manage and develop Palacios Remondo has raised the sub-region’s reputation, while at the same time restoring the prestige of the Garnacha variety.

‘His return to Rioja,’ confirms Cervera, ‘and his commitment to Garnacha are a milestone, and he never hesitates to set a high price, such is the confidence he has in the product and in his ability to communicate and sell it.’

Where Alvaro leads, others have followed. What’s interesting, though, is that when Rioja decided to introduce a – much-debated – single-vineyard category (as of the 2017 vintage), a number of producers didn’t join up, but Alvaro did, putting his top-of-the-range Quiñón de Valmira, an exceptional Garnacha, in the Viñedo Singular category.

Personal commitment

For a global brand owner, Alvaro runs a tight ship. There are few of the layers typical of a luxury business separating him and the outside world. Nor is there a website laden with technical details.

‘We have no salespeople: Isabel [Palacios, no relation] is in touch with all our markets,’ explains Alvaro. ‘We [Ricardo and I, and now Lola] like to make great wine and communicate it ourselves. We do the travelling. It’s a 24/7 job.’

‘He’s the quintessential example of someone who runs their company as a personal business,’ says Berk. ‘With these wines you believe in the people as much as the wines themselves – it’s their magnetism.’ Catriona Felstead MW, senior buyer at Berry Bros & Rudd, agrees: ‘You cannot be in a room with him without being inspired.’

Felstead also highlights his exuberance and love of music, especially flamenco. ‘Lola has inherited that. She shares his passion and the joy of celebrating Spanish culture,’ she says.

Cervera agrees: ‘Alvaro has overwhelming energy and personality.’ He may come across as passionate, sensitive, romantic (his own adjectives), but he scrutinises everything from tasting books to glasses.

Securing the future

Alvaro has made a remarkable contribution to Spain and its reputation in wine. 2024 marks the start of a new stage. What will happen now that Lola has joined? ‘She is understanding the complexity of making wine in three bodegas and discovering the humility that comes with it,’ explains Alvaro. ‘She is learning that from her father and her cousin.’

Is Lola going to have her own opportunities moving forward? ‘We are planting in Rioja, and that will be a project for her, but she is always thinking about other wine regions, too.’

Still, is it possible for Lola to take on what Alvaro began? Berk is full of optimism: ‘It’s a tough act to follow, but she’s dynamic. I think she is going to be sensational. And she has the privilege of being able to work with Alvaro Palacios for several decades.’

Northern Spain, Alvaro style: Seven exemplary wines

Wines were tasted en primeur in spring 2024, except for the 2021 Finca La Montesa, which was a new release

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David Williams, Matthew Forster MW and Diana Rollan tasted 118 wines, with 2 Outstanding and 20 Highly Recommended.

Spanish rosado & clarete: Panel tasting scores

118 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 2

Highly recommended 20

Recommended 57

Commended 26

Fair 13

Poor 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release, still rosado (produced from red grapes following the saignée/sangrado or direct press method) or clarete (25% red grapes/must and 75% white grapes/must, blended before alcoholic fermentation) wines from any ageing category of joven, roble, crianza, reserva or gran reserva

This tasting featured one of the best wines I and my two fellow judges, Matthew Forster MW and Diana Rollan, have encountered in a Decanter panel tasting. A unanimous 97-pointer, Bodega Hacienda Lopéz de Haro’s Classica Gran Reserva Rosado 2013 is vying for a place in my personal pantheon: is this the finest Spanish rosado I’ve ever tasted? It’s certainly up there.

In a rosé winemaking world that is increasingly preoccupied with imitating the model of extremely pale, delicately flavoured wines, patented (with extraordinary recent success) by Provence, the Classica was a vivid and timely reminder.

Other styles of rosé are available – and a long tradition of making deeper-coloured, more powerfully flavoured and more robustly textured rosados is one of Spanish wine’s many strengths. And sure enough, it was wines made in this tradition that stood out and attracted our highest scores.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Spanish rosado & clarete panel tasting

Spanish rosé tradition

We were less enamoured with wines that seemed to be trying to copy Provence. It’s not that these pale wines were bad per se (indeed, some were very good). It’s just that, as Rollan said while discussing one of the higher-scoring pale wines: ‘It’s a perfectly well-made wine: refreshing, fruity… But what it doesn’t have is any kind of Spanish character. The world doesn’t need more Provence-style rosés.’

And she added: ‘Spain has its own rosé tradition and it’s a shame when they just try to copy something that you find all over the world.’

Forster agreed. ‘With some exceptions, the better wines for me were true-to-type rosados, made in a more traditional full-bodied style, rather than wannabe Provence-style rosés,’ he said. ‘There were also a couple of experimental wines that really stood out, demonstrating sophisticated winemaking and a more confident, authentic approach.’

On the strength of this tasting, ‘authentic’ rosados can be found all over Spain, and while Rioja claimed the top two scores, there were high-scoring wines of real character and interest from Galicia, Navarra and various parts of Catalonia.

Varietally speaking, Garnacha was a consistent performer, but Tempranillo struggled, with many showing an awkward, green/unripe side and noticeable alcoholic heat on the finish.

See all the wines from the Spanish rosado & clarete panel tasting

Clear disparity

The scores suggest I was more enthusiastic than my fellow judges about the claretes we tasted, although we all appreciated the variety and character on offer in these white-and-red-grape co-fermentations, which varied from light reds to those that more closely resembled orange wines.

Overall, perhaps our most significant finding was the big disparity between wines from the best producers and the rest. It may be the legacy of a time when rosé was effectively a by-product of red wine production.

But there’s a sense that some producers have, in Forster’s words, ‘underestimated the technical challenges associated with this form of winemaking and are struggling to find their way’.

Great rosés may be marked by an easygoing, easy-drinking grace, but making great rosé is by no means as easy as it looks.

Spanish rosado & clarete panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

David Williams is wine correspondent for The Observer, a regular contributor to Decanter on all things Spanish, and a widely published wine writer, author and competition judge.

Matthew Forster MW is an independent wine consultant and education specialist, and founder of The Wine Partnership. A former director at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, he has a particular passion for the food and wine cultures of Spain, Portugal and South America.

Diana Rollan is group head of beverage for D&D London restaurants group. A DWWA judge for Spain, she formerly managed training and wine buying at Hakkasan Group as its UK head of wine.

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Appellations of origin are regulated under a common law in the EU. You might think that they’re therefore very similar across the member states, but this is far from true. Italian appellations, for example, tend to designate specific wine styles, and their territories are often shared with other DOCs.

For example, ‘Brunello di Montalcino’ is a Sangiovese-based aged red wine, but the territory is also home to other appellations with different specifications.

In contrast, most Spanish appellations represent an individual territory, within which many different styles of wines can be made – and Rioja is a leading example of this philosophy. Under the Rioja DOCa, producers can make white, red, rosé, sparkling and sweet wines.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 12 diverse and delicious Riojas

In addition to this, 14 different grape varieties (five red and nine white) and any possible method of ageing are also permitted within Rioja. From a technical point of view this makes sense, since such a large and diverse region holds the potential for many different wine styles. However, for wine lovers, so much variety can be confusing. So let’s explore some of the different styles…

To help you understand what’s on offer, I’ve looked beyond red and white Riojas to the four most exciting Rioja ‘alternatives’: orange, cosechero, sparkling and rosé. I’ve summarised each of these styles, and I’ve also carried out a blind tasting of wines in each style, to find the best examples for you to try at home.

Orange

Strictly speaking, orange wine is not a category of Rioja wine, since there are no appellation regulations for these skin-contact wines. Technically, orange wines fall under the category of ‘white’, though they differ from white wines in their production. In the simplest terms, orange wines are white wines that are made like red wines.

In other words, they are produced from white grapes, but instead of pressing the fruit quickly and fermenting the juice, the winemaker adds the skins, seeds and sometimes the stems of the grapes to the juice. This is then left to soak for anything from 24 hours to several months, allowing the juice to absorb colour and flavour from the skins and seeds.

I blind-tasted seven orange Riojas and found that the winemaking method can often dominate the origin. Personally, I would have preferred to find more Riojan identity – although the Malvasía-based wine from Abel Mendoza that I’ve recommended does have a clear Rioja Alavesa identity. Mendoza is a fiery defender of his land’s distinctive character, expressing it in all his wines.

He calls this wine ‘fermented with its skins’ rather than orange, to make this difference quite clear. He got the idea for this wine after visiting Domaine Overnoy in Jura. ‘This is the third year I have made this wine,’ he says. ‘I wanted a wine from the vine to the glass, with no SO2 added. I know it keeps very well in the bottle.’

Cosechero

The prevalent style of winemaking in Rioja before the Marqueses of Riscal and Murrieta brought Bordeaux methods to the region in the 19th century, was ‘cosechero‘. The word cosechero means grape-grower, and these young red wines were produced by growers who didn’t have controlled fermentation equipment or ageing facilities.

The wines are made using a carbonic maceration style: the whole berries are left in an open-top fermenter and fermentation actually begins inside the grapes until the pressure causes the skins to break, then regular fermentation occurs. This style is very similar to Beaujolais Nouveau; both are made for early drinking.

Cosechero wines are very enjoyable in their youthful fruit and freshness, but again for me, the winemaking tends to take precedence over distinctive Riojan identity. The wine I’ve recommended from Remírez de Ganuza is a great example of innovation in this style. José Ramón Urtasun, the winery’s owner, is adamant on the crucial difference between this cosechero and most others: it comes from the best vineyards, selected for his famous reserva.

For each grape bunch, Remírez de Ganuza keeps the ‘shoulders’ for the reserva wines, and earmarks the bottom part, with fresher and less concentrated grapes, for the cosecheros. As Urtasun says, ‘This is a cosechero from top vineyards, our luxury.’

Sparkling

Rioja has a very long tradition of producing sparkling wines using the traditional method. Indeed, a sparkling Malvasía 1848, made by General Baldomero Espartero – boss of Marqués de Murrieta at the time – received an award at an agricultural fair in Madrid in 1857. There was no continuity to this exploit, but the merit is there.

Many years later, sparkling production revived, but Rioja sparkling was made under the Cava banner. However, in 2017, the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja included sparkling wines in the appellation. It introduced quite demanding technical specifications for the style – and although a small number of wineries moved their sparkling wines from Cava to the new framework within Rioja, the most significant result of the creation of this new category has been the launch of brand new wines.

Today, wineries continue to research and experiment with sparkling wine, so there’s no signature Rioja style. But from my blind tasting of 10 wines, two common features stood out. First, wines are ambitious in terms of site and grape selection, ageing periods and organoleptic profiles.

All wines were aged well in excess of 15 months, the minimum regulatory period. Second, they use native grape varieties, which shows that producers are genuinely looking for identity.

Rafa Vivanco, one of Rioja’s leading sparkling wine producers, has a clear vision around what he is seeking to achieve with his wines. ‘I could have produced Cava, but I decided to go for Rioja sparkling when the new regulation allowed the use of the indigenous varieties Maturana and Tempranillo Blanco,’ he explains. ‘I also believe in long ageing times, before and after disgorgement,’ he adds. His sparkling wines are not yet available in the UK, unfortunately.

For now, only a few sparkling Riojas exist, but more wines are likely to join this category, which in my opinion looks poised for success. Some very good sparkling wines made in the region are still labelled as Cava, however, and some producers staying with Cava are using the new sub-zone ‘Valle del Ebro’ on the label.

Rosé

In my opinion, the most exciting category of ‘alternative’ Rioja is rosé, or rosado, wine. Rioja is definitely a region for top rosé wines, though with several styles being produced, there’s no single regional identity for these wines.

First of all, there are the wines from Cordovín, a village in Rioja Alta distinguished by the quality of its cool-climate Garnacha grapes. These rosés, a modern take on Rioja’s traditional ‘clarete’ style, are often top-quality wines with ageing potential and uniqueness – that rarest wine attribute.

They benefit from both lees contact and oak ageing. Honorio Rubio, 220 Cántaras, Valcuerna and Florentino Martínez are names to keep in mind.

Then there are the rosés aged for a number of months or years in oak barrels, made in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa. This style is almost exclusive to Rioja, with its distinctive and elegant oxidative character, more or less subtle oak influence and, in the best cases, extremely long finish.

These wines are made to improve in bottle, and with their idiosyncratic, love-it-or-hate-it profiles, are absolutely unique. R López de Heredia is the historic leader in this category, but some newer producers are seriously competing with it.

A third style is inspired by Provence: delicate, with suave fruit and lots of freshness, and very pale in colour. The best are delicious: they are made to be drunk young and tend to be pure Garnacha, or blends of Garnacha and Viura. For producers to succeed with this style requires plenty of winemaking know-how as well as top equipment in the winery.

Across these three styles there is a crucial quality requirement: the best wines are made with grapes from vineyards exclusively dedicated to rosé production. There are no shortcuts to quality here, nor are there cheap solutions.

Producers know this, so most top wines refer to a particular vineyard. Other wines will be positioned quite high in a producer’s portfolio, demonstrating the cost and the effort required to produce a great Rioja rosé.

Marqués de Murrieta winemaker María Vargas found a genial solution to the issue of regional identity when she dedicated a Mazuelo vineyard at the winery’s Ygay site to rosé. The result was an extremely original wine. Now, other producers, including Lalomba, also have dedicated rosé vineyards.

A dynamic future

In conclusion, there is so much more happening in Rioja than oak-aged reds made with Tempranillo. Some categories, such as rosé, have already established themselves and others are on their way, notably sparkling. The quality of the first cohort is very good, but it would be good to see more producers come on board.

Cosechero wines, in the meantime, are seeing something of a revival, given consumer demand for young unoaked wines.

Orange wine is a newcomer in Rioja. There is good potential in this category, since some Rioja white grape varieties have demonstrated excellent qualities in their skins, but there is not yet a strong push for it.

While many of the orange wines produced here tend to lack Riojan identity, a few producers have found a way of expressing genuine Rioja orange wines: Abel Mendoza is one of the best examples.

Something new: different Rioja wines to try at home

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There’s no doubt that the best Riojas improve with cellaring. The idea behind this spotlight tasting, therefore, was to see how these wines were performing after 10 and 20 years. However, the comparison can’t be based on age alone: the vintage factor is crucial.

In this instance, the differences between the 2004 and 2014 vintages are striking. While 2004 is considered to be one of the greatest Rioja vintages of this century to date, some producers would rather forget 2014 altogether.

As Pablo Franco, technical director of the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja, diplomatically puts it: ‘2014 was a heterogeneous vintage, but hard work in the vineyards paid off spectacularly.’

Scroll down to see notes and scores for some selected wines from the two vintages

A perfect season

Everything that could go well went well in 2004, although the season got off to a gloomy start, with lots of rain and fear of disease in the vineyards. This was followed by perfectly sunny weather and well-nourished soils, though temperatures were, at the time, deemed a bit high (in light of climate change, 2004 temperatures would later come to be seen as ‘average’). Grapes were healthy and ripe, and young wines were delicious: balanced and fruity, with round tannins and relatively low pH – all the necessary conditions for ageing.

As a result, the 2004 vintage was generally viewed as ‘excellent’ by the experts. This rating applied across the three sub-regions, although Rioja Alavesa in particular benefited from the conditions and arguably Rioja Oriental less so, because temperatures there were particularly high.

It’s also worth noting that at the time there were fewer quality-minded wineries in Rioja Oriental, but the situation is different today.

A season to forget

Jump forward 10 years and 2014 was the opposite of 2004. It started well, after the rainy and cold 2013 (the last such vintage in Rioja to date), with plenty of water in the soils and good weather.

But then the season worsened considerably across the whole region, with some areas being hit particularly hard. Conditions were terrible in many vineyards, especially at harvest time, when the high rainfall led to botrytis.

Those growers who managed old vines undertook green harvesting, clearing and working the vineyards in a timely way so that they were ready to pick at the right time and could get healthy and ripe grapes.

Unfortunately, those producers with particularly high yields and less-careful viticulture practices suffered a lot, and subsequently had to make a number of corrections in the winery.

Winemaking shifts

Significantly, 2014 also marks a shift in attitudes towards winemaking in Rioja: 2014 was the last vintage for overripe wines. Since then, winemakers no longer boast that they are ‘the last to harvest’, as they had done previously.

While the switch to harvesting earlier has much to do with climate change, as well as a quest for finesse, the late rains that occurred in 2014 were definitely a catalyst for this change.

Despite the challenges, there were, however, a decent number of very good 2014 wines produced at the time of release, and there was no reason to discard the whole vintage. Indeed, I remember some wines achieved excellent scores back then.

It was therefore a useful vintage in at least one respect: it highlighted the differences between the best producers and the others.

Compare and contrast

With all this in mind, you might expect the 2014s to appear slightly younger than the 2004s, while the 2004s would be slightly more complex. However, the results of our tasting showed that this was not the case.

Over the years, the differences in quality potential become more and more evident. Based on the results of this tasting I would recommend keeping top 2004s for longer than 2014s – although the best of them, across both vintages, are highly enjoyable now.

In my opinion, 2004 is likely to enter the club of top Rioja vintages, alongside years such as 2001, 1964, 1929 and 1895. In that context, alongside these greats, 2014 is bound to be forgotten.

Wine lovers are well aware of vintage differences for Bordeaux and Burgundy, but tend to minimise the vintage effect in Rioja. This tasting proved that this notion is completely wrong – particularly for wines whose peak is often some decades ahead.

Indeed, the rule of ‘buy the greatest in poor vintages, buy the second greatest in the best vintages’ applies to Rioja as much as it does to the French regions.

How the tasting worked

The tasting was conducted blind. Each producer submitted samples from both 2004 and 2014, on the understanding that only one tasting note per producer would be published. Several producers had excellent wines in both vintages; practically all of them had a better wine in 2004 than in 2014.

As a result, the recommendations give priority to the best 2014s from a broad range of producers. The 2004s recommended are the best among those not selected for their 2014s. Note that all producers (except one, Carlos Serros) whose 2014 wines we selected got a higher mark for their 2004s.

Maturing well: vintage highlights from our tasting:

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Of Rioja’s three sub-zones, Rioja Alavesa is the flyweight. With a total vineyard area of just over 13,000 hectares, it is by far the smallest, around half the size of heavyweights Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental.

And yet, when it comes to influence, creativity, dynamism and share of Rioja’s – and Spain’s – best bottles, this sub-region punches way above its weight. This has been the case throughout its history. Take, for example, the story of how Rioja first caught global attention as a fine-wine region in the second half of the 19th century.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 10 exciting wines from Rioja Alavesa

A new style

This was a period when Rioja effectively became a surrogate for one of the biggest names in French wine, when vignerons and châteaux owners from Bordeaux, having seen their own vineyards destroyed by phylloxera, took to Rioja as the perfect place to set up shop and replenish their chais and service thirsty drinkers back home.

The Bordelais brought with them expertise and a particular way of doing things: a winemaking recipe that included careful management of the vineyards, clean fermentation tanks, separating stems and skins for fermentation, and, most famously, ageing in 225-litre oak barriques.

That recipe is, of course, the basis of what we think of today as traditional Rioja – a style of sweetly oaked wine that is strongly associated with a particular corner of the region around the town of Haro in the Rioja Alta sub-region.

This is where a cluster of Rioja’s grandest names – its first growths, if you like – were first established in the years after the railway arrived in Haro in 1863: CVNE, La Rioja Alta, R López de Heredia.

But if Haro’s Barrio de la Estación became the epicentre of what was then the new – now the traditional – style, it was, in fact, an Alavesa producer that first showed how well the Bordeaux style could work in Rioja’s very different terroir and conditions.

Even before phylloxera had forced the Bordelais south, the Bordeaux-based Alava native Don Guillermo Hurtado de Amézaga, the Marqués de Riscal, had been asked by the local Alava government to persuade local growers to incorporate Bordeaux methods in their vineyards.

Amézaga sought out the expertise of Jean Pineau, winemaker at Haut-Médoc estate Château Lanessan, first to run a project sponsored by the Alava government, and then, as Pineau struggled to overcome local resistance to his methods, for Amézaga’s own estate in the Alava village of Elciego.

Within a few years of the Marqués de Riscal’s first bottling in 1862, the estate’s Bordeaux-inspired wines were picking up acclaim far beyond the region; by the end of the century, Marqués de Riscal had become the first non-French winery to be awarded the Diplôme d’Honneur at the Bordeaux Exhibition.

Switch in focus

Alavesa’s role as Rioja’s incubator of new ideas has taken on several forms since then. Riscal, again, was the first estate to encase its bottles in the distinctive golden wire mesh, or ‘malla’, as a means of counteracting counterfeiters in the early 1900s.

Then, in the 1980s, Alavesa wineries – among them Remírez de Ganuza, Luis Cañas, Ostatu, Artadi and the CVNE single-estate side project, Contino – played a key role in developing what became known as the ‘modernist’ style.

A conscious attempt to break away from what its practitioners saw as a dogmatic association between quality and greater time in oak, the modernist recipe involved, somewhat ironically, a return to one of the ‘traditions’ established in the late 1800s: the modernists preferred shorter sojourns in French oak, rather than the American oak that had been the predominant material for barrels in the region since the early 20th century.

While some of the wines were undoubtedly guilty of pushing towards a ponderous, thickly concentrated style based on super- or overripe fruit and over-extraction in the winery, the best of the modernists were responsible for forcing a significant switch in focus in Rioja. They believed that the quality of the fruit was every bit as important as what happened to it in the winery.

Rioja Alavesa at a glance

Total vineyard area: 13,178ha (20% of Rioja total vineyard area)

Total production: (2022 vintage) 80,644,931 kg(73,665,032 kg red; 6,979,899kg white)

Average vineyard plot size: 0.52ha

Number of registered wineries: 262

Grape varieties: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Graciano (red); Malvasia, Tempranillo Blanco, Viura (white)

Key villages: Baños de Ebro, Cripán, Elciego, Elvillar, Labastida, Laguardia, Lanciego, Lapuebla de Labarca, Leza, Moreda de Alava, Navaridas, Oyón, Samaniego, Villabuena de Alava, Yécora

Source: Consejo Regulador DOCA Riojs

Back to terroir

It’s a back-to-the-land idea that more recent generations of Alavesa producers have taken still further, with influential names such as Abel Mendoza, Artuke, Bodegas Bhilar and Telmo Rodríguez looking back beyond the modernist and the traditional to what they think of as ‘ancestral’ Rioja – a time of small grower-producers or viñateros and much greater varietal diversity.

It’s a move that’s very much in keeping with trends elsewhere in the wine world, a terroiriste turn that is inspired by Burgundy rather than Bordeaux, and for which Rioja Alavesa, with its patchwork of smaller plots of, in many cases, very old (many have vines of 50 to 100+ years old) vineyards spread across 23 villages, is ideally suited.

This small-producer spirit is part of what makes a visit to Rioja Alavesa wine country feel distinctly different to the rest of Rioja. But the geography is different, too. Most of the best vineyards are planted in terraces on iron-rich clay and limestone soils, and, like many of Spain’s most exciting wine regions, altitude plays a defining role in shaping the character of the wines.

Vineyards follow the slopes into the jagged peaks of the Sierra Cantabria, with vineyards stretching from 400m to 1,200m above sea level. There’s a rugged beauty here, and also a distinctly cooler, Atlantic-influenced climate, which helps give Alavesa wines their trademark definition and nerve, whether the wines are white (easily the best in the region), ageworthy reds, or the local speciality: a carbonically macerated, youthful, fresh style of red that has been given a pulsatingly vivid new lease of life in recent years.

Basque breakaway

Alavesa’s small and often family-owned producers set themselves apart from the bigger bodegas in Rioja. These large companies dominate the region’s regulatory council and have rather different priorities when it comes to setting local winemaking regulations and designing marketing campaigns.

It is worth noting that a number of these bigger Rioja bodegas – located outside Rioja Alavesa – are busy buying vineyards in Alavesa, drawn by the high elevations, the old vine material, and the quality of the fruit.

These differences in winemaking philosophy have been exacerbated by questions of cultural and regional identity and governance. The management of Spanish DOPs falls under the remit of regional governments, except when a DOP extends across more than one region – in which case it is controlled at national level.

This is the case for Rioja, which extends across four regions. Most of Alavesa is part of the Basque country and for a long time the autonomous Basque regional government has been requesting control over those vineyards. A relevant number of Alavesa producers support this request.

The situation is heating up. The Asociación de Bodegas de Rioja Alavesa (ABRA) convened last December for a discussion about whether to take its 100 member wineries out of the official Rioja DOCa, but no vote was held on the issue.

Earlier, in September 2023, the Asociación de Bodegas Familiares de Rioja, which represents around 50 bodegas, resigned from the appellation’s governing body, in protest at what they saw as a failure to promote Rioja as a premium fine wine region while continuing to push a pile-it-oakily-sweetly-and-cheaply-high image.

They also appealed to Spain’s government to be exempt from contributing to generic Spanish wine promotion activities. But it’s important to remember that Alava is the most ancient part of Rioja. Many producers there remain loyal to the Rioja DOCa and some of the most famous bodegas are not in favour of leaving.

Rioja Alavesa: Seven names to know

Abel Mendoza

Early adopters of the now-fashionable viñatero (grower-producer) model in Rioja, Abel Mendoza and his wife Maite Fernández work their 37 plots over 18ha on the left bank of the Ebro around San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Abalos and Labastida.

Organically farmed, those vineyards are unusually diverse in terms of grape variety, with Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca, Torrontés and Tempranillo Blanco for whites, and Graciano treated as seriously as Tempranillo in wines of precision and silky-textured class.

Artuke

Brothers Arturo and Kike de Miguel have combined their names (Artu + Ke) and their expertise to make Artuke one of the stars of new-wave Rioja from their base in the village of Baños de Ebro.

Their wines – whether the outstanding small-production, single-plot, old-vine, high-altitude numbers such as El Esolladero and La Condenada, or their supremely succulent, sappy, carbonically macerated estate bottling – are unfailingly fresh, compulsively drinkable and intriguing.

Bodegas Bhilar

Run by winemaker David Sampedro and his American wife Melanie Hickman, Bodegas Bhilar is the epitome of the kind of small, terroir-focused Alavesa winery that makes this sub-region so exciting.

Based near the village of Elvillar in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria, Sampedro and Hickman work the (up to 100-year-old) vines biodynamically for a gorgeously individualistic, expressive range of village, village estate and single-vineyard wines.

Luis Cañas/Amaren

Value is a watchword at this always-reliable, family-run bodega, not least in its crianza and reserva bottlings, which, like all the Cañas wines, have a fresh, ripe fruit-driven style that’s nicely seasoned by new oak and based on impeccable fruit sourced from the family’s 350ha vineyard holdings.

Look out, too, for the small-production Amaren range made by Luis’ grandson, Jon Cañas, from some of the family’s best plots.

Marqués de Riscal

One of the great, grand old names of Rioja, Marqués de Riscal bottled its first wines in 1862 and, perhaps uniquely, its cellars house wines from every vintage of its 162-year existence.

But if history and tradition are important, they are not constraining here: winemaking for the classic and very long-lived reservas and gran reservas has evolved, and Riscal has kept with the times with impressive village and single-plot wines, not to mention building a first-class hotel and museum in a strikingly modern Frank Gehry-designed building in the early 2000s.

Sierra de Tolono

A Rioja native, Sandra Bravo has captured attention and acclaim for her sensitive, gently experimental winemaking approach since starting her Sierra de Toloño label in 2012. Small plots of old vines (up to 80 years old) at high altitudes (up to 700m) are at the heart of Bravo’s artisanal recipe, as are neutral oak, amphorae and concrete, in a range that includes expressive Garnacha and Tempranillo and a luminous field-blend white.

Telmo Rodriguez

One of the most influential Spanish winemakers of the past 30 years, the restless Telmo Rodríguez has interests and fine wines dotted all over the country, but his work back home in Rioja is some of his most accomplished.

He has two projects: Bodegas Lanzaga is based on restored parcels of vines in the villages of Lanciego and Labastida; Remelluri is the family estate founded by his father in the late 1960s. Both showcase the high-definition, terroir-driven Rodríguez style; both are Alavesa essentials.

Williams’ selection of top wines from Rioja Alavesa

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With a soaring view looking down on the island of Manhattan, Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, Count of Creixell, presented his family’s iconic wines from the historic Marqués de Murrieta estate during the final masterclass of the 2024 Decanter Fine Wine Encounter NYC.

Dalmau explained that he was eager to share his family’s historic story and wines with Decanter’s US audience, and that the American market – New York and Miami in particular – is by far Marqués de Murrieta’s most important export market.

The masterclass and the wines on display told a story of three single vineyards within the revered Finca Ygay estate. Dalmau led attendees through an understanding of the terroir and growing conditions of these singular blocks within Ygay’s 300-hectare vineyard holdings.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the eight wines tasted at the Marqués de Murrieta masterclass at DFWE NYC 2o24

A historic sense of place

The Marqués de Murrieta winery was founded by Don Luciano, who, in the mid-1850s, sought to bring what he had learned about winemaking in Bordeaux to the Rioja Alta region.

Dalmau’s father purchased the property in 1983. They were already the owners of the Rias Baixas estate Pazo de Barrantes, which his family, the Counts of Creixell, had owned since the early 20th century.

Tragically, his father died suddenly in 1996 aged just 46. This left Dalmau, then just 26, with the heavy responsibility of managing the family’s two estates while mourning the loss of his young father.

Nonetheless, the pioneering spirit of its founder has continued with the Cebrián-Sagarriga family’s stewardship and Dalmau’s visionary approach as the president and owner of the current estate – though he is quick to pass on the credit for the estate’s amazing wines to his vineyards.

Marqués de Murrieta masterclass

The wines Vicente Dalmau poured for the masterclass told a story of the family’s estate vineyards, their ability to craft wines of the highest quality with uncanny ageability, and an eye for innovation in a region steeped in tradition.

Marqués de Murrieta, Dalmau, Rioja Alta, Spain 2014

Marqués de Murrieta, Dalmau, Rioja Alta, Spain 2019

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja Alta, Spain 1980

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja Alta, Spain 2007

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja Alta, Spain 2009

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial, Rioja Alta, Spain 2012

Marqués de Murrieta, Capellanía, Rioja Alta, Spain 2018

Marqués de Murrieta, Castillo Ygay, Gran Reserva Especial Blanco, Rioja Alta, Spain 1986

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for all the wines featured in this masterclass

Canajas

The Canajas site sits at 460m on calcareous limestone soils. These soils and elevation combine to impart a notable freshness to the fruit.

The wines from the Dalmau range come from this block. These are a creation of Vicente Dalmau and his decision to create a new take on Rioja, which includes Cabernet Sauvignon.

Marqués de Murrieta is the only winery in Rioja approved by the DOCa to use Cabernet Sauvignon, as its vineyard plantings predate the region’s restriction on Bordeaux varieties.

The Dalmau wine is a modern take, a sort of ‘Super Rioja’ in Dalmau’s words. In addition to Cabernet, Graciano plays a vital role in the wine’s style and longevity, its high acids adding plenty of freshness, minerality and ageability.

La Plana

With calcareous soils, La Plana is located in the upper part of the estate, at the highest elevation of the Ygay holdings, and mainly planted with Tempranillo and Mazuelo.

With vines dating to 1950, the plot has a history dating back to the origins of Marqués de Murrieta itself in the 19th century. At 40ha, it is the largest of the three single-vineyard sites. La Plana is also the source of the iconic red wine Gran Reserva Especial.

Given the importance of the Gran Reserva Especial to the estate’s history and portfolio, Vicente Dalmau refers to La Plana as the ‘heart and soul’ of Castillo Ygay.

Capellanía

A site charged with making the most remarkable bottling of Viura and the most intensely aged wine before release I’ve ever encountered. The Capellanía plot covers 6ha, planted in 1945 on a plateau at 485m. It is the highest elevation site within the Finca Ygay with calcareous clay soils.

Only about 3% of Rioja’s wines are white, but Finca Ygay makes two exquisite examples, both of which come from Capellanía. The key component of both wines is Viura, also known as Macabeo in Catalonia.

The freshness from the Viura variety is compounded by the Capellanía terroir, crafting wines that defy expectations about what is possible in Rioja.

Facing the future

Embracing their important role as a revered Rioja estate, the Cebrián-Sagarriga family believes that responsiveness and evolution are as important as tradition.

When creating the most recent Dalmau wines, Vicente Dalmau looked towards the future of both the Marqués de Murrieta estate and the wider Rioja region. He and the winemaking team are equally concerned with a changing climate and its impact on viticulture and the wines of the region and estate but also wanted a wine to appeal to changing tastes and modernising historic Rioja.

Siding with adaptability rather than strict dogma, the Marques de Murrieta wines have continued to evolve. As the climate warms, the iconic red wines will see higher percentages of Mazuelo (Cinsault) and Graciano, according to Dalmau.

These varieties are an important way to address climatic challenges. Furthermore, they bring higher acidity, brighter red fruits, savoury elegance and minerality to freshen the palate which appeals to modern drinkers.

In production, the Ygay estate has long embraced the continued and increasingly important use of concrete fermentation vessels to finish the wines, giving them lift, brightness, and freshness.

Modern renovations to their production facility have preserved its historical importance while updating with an eye towards efficiency. In order to maintain a superior level of quality, Dalmau and the team at Marqués de Murrieta are committed to an ethos of resilience.

DFWE NYC 2024: the Marqués de Murrieta masterclass wines

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