Rioja is the most famous, traditional and certainly one of the best wine growing regions of Spain, the wines enjoy global recognition. Rioja is also one of the nuclei of quality Spanish viticulture, because it was also from here that the first bottled wines of the Iberian Peninsula were exported in the mid-19th century. The area experienced an enormous transfer of know-how when, towards the end of the 19th century, many wine growers from Bordeaux left their vineyards on the Gironde, devastated by phylloxera, and emigrated to the region on the Ebro to produce wine here, where phylloxera had not yet caused any damage. What has remained from that time is the obligatory barrel ageing in small oak barrels for the top quality wines, especially for the Reserva and Gran Reserva quality levels. Today, about 19,000 winemakers cultivate about 63,000 hectares of vineyards, but many of them are purely growers who sell their grapes to the big houses like Marques de Caceres or Bodegas Berberana. The climate in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where the vineyards are located at 300 to 800 metres above sea level, is cool due to the Atlantic influence beyond the Pyrenean massif, but the mountain range also keeps rain off, so that very little precipitation falls. Rioja is divided into a total of three sub-regions: the high-altitude Alavesa, north of the Ebro River, and Rioja Alta, west of the capital Logroño, and the much lower altitude Rioja Baja. Soils range from alluvial to ferruginous clay soils to chalk clay. A total of seven grape varieties are permitted for the production of Rioja wines: three for white and four for red. Rioja usually consists of a blend of the approved varieties as well as the sub-regions to give the wines substance, complexity and power, but also colour. The additional designations such as Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva are decided by the duration of barrel and bottle ageing.
The best wines from La Rioja
Spain
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TastingShortlist Schweiz 1/202627.03.2026, Falstaff Magazine Switzerland No. 2/2026, Benjamin Herzog und Dominik Vombach
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TastingNews on the wine market 202601.01.2026, Falstaff Online 2026, Peter Moser, Benjamin Herzog & Dominik Vombach, Ulrich Sautter, Roland Graf (Spirits)
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TastingShortlist Switzerland 1/2025The regular falstaff shortlist presents wines currently available on the market and rates them in terms of price-performance ratio in the fo...
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TastingNews on the wine market 2025The Falstaff wine editors-in-chief from Austria, Germany and Switzerland regularly receive new products from the wine market for tasting and...
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TastingNew to the wine market 202401.01.2024, Falstaff Online Austria 2024, Peter Moser, Dominik Vombach, Benajmin Herzog, Ulrich Sautter
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TastingNew on the wine market 2023 AustriaRegelmäßig verkosten die Falstaff Chefredakteure Neuigkeiten auf dem Weinmarkt – darunter finden Sie Entdeckungen und Empfehlungen in...
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TastingShortlist Germany 10/2022Weine aus aller Welt - aktuell im Handel. Woche für Woche bekommt die Falstaff-Wein-Redaktion Flaschenpost von Weinhändlern, die neue Produ...
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TastingThe best holiday wines of 2022Im zehnten und letzten Falstaff Magazin des Jahres 2022 haben wir Ihnen eine bunte Palette von 100 Weinen aus aller Welt präsentiert, die pr...
Best wines from this region
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2010 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14%
100
1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
White Wine
Macabeo
13,5%
100
1934 Rioja DO Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
13%
100
1925 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
13%
100
2016 Viña El Pisón
Bodegas y Viñedos Artadi
Rioja Alavesa,
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14,5%
99
2017 Quinon de Valmira
Alvaro Palacios
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
98
2017 Yjar Rioja Alavesa
Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez, S.L.
Rioja Alavesa,
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
98
2011 Castillo Ygay Rioja Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
14%
98
2001 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Rioja DOCa
Marqués de Murrieta
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14%
98
2022 Remelluri Blanco
Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri
La Rioja,
Spain
White Wine
97
2020 Artuke La Condenada Rioja DOCa
Bodega Viña Artuke
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
97
2020 La Condenada
Bodega Viña Artuke
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
14%
97
2018 Olagar Blanco Gran Reserva
Bodegas Remírez de Ganuza
La Rioja,
Spain
White Wine
13,5%
97
2016 Cirsion
Bodegas Roda
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14,5%
97
2016 La Estrada
Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez, S.L.
Rioja Alta,
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14%
97
2012 Pujanza Cisma Rioja DOCa
Bodegas y Vinedos Pujanza
Rioja Alavesa,
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
14%
97
2011 Artadi Viña El Pisón Rioja DOCa
Bodegas y Viñedos Artadi
Rioja Alavesa,
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
97
2011 Benjamin Romeo Contador Rioja DOCa
Bodega Contador
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
Tempranillo
15,5%
97
2010 Benjamin Romeo Contador Rioja DOCa
Bodega Contador
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
97
2010 Granja Remelluri Rioja Gran Reserva
Bodegas Remelluri by Telmo Rodriguez
La Rioja,
Spain
Red Wine
97
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