Spanish Wine Regions: Rioja

The reds from Rioja are no doubt Spain's best known and most admired wines. They are made primarily with Tempranillo grapes blended with a handful of others. Because of their great aging potential and flavor profile, Rioja wines are sometimes compared to the best wines of Bordeaux.

Rioja wines are named for the region. The name itself is a mash-up of the words Rio (meaning, "river") and Oja, the name of a tributary that feeds into the Ebro. The wine growing area is a hot, dry section of north-central Spain just west of Navarra, running from just below Bilbao toward the south along the Ebro River. The Pyrenees Mountains shield the vineyards from lashing wind and rains blowing in over the Bay of Biscay. The region is separated into three parts: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa, and Rioja Baja. Climate and soils differ in each of these sub-regions, and often juice from more than one sub-region is blended together to create a certain style.

Wine labels from Rioja often display the words Crianza, Reserva, or Gran Reserva, which refer to the amount of time each has spent in barrel and bottle before release. Barrel time can add additional layers of flavor (vanilla, cedar) to these full-bodied red wines. Of the three classifications, Gran Reserva are the longest aged and are made from grapes of exceptional vintages.

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