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Rioja
For more than a century Rioja has been considered Spain's preeminent wine region.
Its vineyards run for 75 miles (120 kilometres) along both banks of the Ebro River and cover more than 157,000 acres (63,500 hectares) in the remote interior of northern Spain, with craggy mountains standing in desolation behind them.
Several small mountain ranges and the outlying ridges of the Cantabrian Mountains isolate the region from the moderating Atlantic and shield it from the harshest northern winds, so although Rioja lies only 60 miles from the Bay of Biscay it does NOT have a maritime climate.
Key grapes
- Grenache
- Tempranillo
- climate
- continental, NOT maritime — Cantabrian ranges shield the region from the Atlantic and the harshest northern winds
- classification system
- DOCa (first in Spain, 1991); aging hierarchy of crianza / reserva / gran reserva
- signature
- tempranillo-based reds with long aging in oak barrels; modern style powerfully structured and earthy vs traditional style elegant, closer to pinot noir
- size
- 157,000+ acres (63,500 ha) over 75 miles along the Ebro
- style note
- the book contrasts two opposite house styles, so no single structural benchmark is asserted here
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