Rioja is a big wine region, covering some 60,000 hectares, but it has traditionally been thought of as one homogenous district in spite of it having three quite distinctive parts, Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa, and Rioja Oriental. Today, wine producers are increasingly emphasising the characters of each of the sub-regions, and sometimes even villages. With this article BKWine Magazine introduces a new contributor, Michael Pope, who explores and explains the different Rioja styles.
Rioja is not just a wine region; it’s a blend of cultures woven from time, land, and wine. Stretching along the Ebro River, it speaks in three voices: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa, and Rioja Oriental. Each is shaped by history, climate, and the steady hands of winemakers who have coaxed life from these soils for centuries.
Rioja Alta, to the west, is tradition wrapped in an autumn breeze. Higher elevations, cooler nights, and Atlantic whispers shape tempranillo into something structured and long-lived, the backbone of classic gran reservas. Towns like Haro, Briones, and Cenicero hold the weight of history, their wineries a testament to an era when Rioja found its way to Bordeaux, filling the barrels left empty by phylloxera.
Across the Ebro, in the Basque enclave of Rioja Alavesa, the land is leaner, the limestone-rich soils lending finesse and freshness to its wines. This is where the old and the new collide. Where medieval hilltop villages like Laguardia, Elciego, and Labastida stand guard over underground cellars that once hid more than just wine. The winemakers here have always had a rebellious streak, championing vineyard expression, single-plot wines, and a future that embraces innovation without forgetting the past.
Then there’s Rioja Oriental. Once called Rioja Baja, a name, they said, that suggested inferiority. But words carry weight, and the shift to Oriental — “eastern” — marks a region stepping into its own identity. The climate here is more Mediterranean, warmer, drier, a playground for garnacha, the grape that once reigned before tempranillo took centre stage. The reds are riper, fuller, with an untamed energy that sets them apart. Aldeanueva de Ebro, Alfaro, and Calahorra are the beating heart of this sun-drenched landscape, where modern producers are proving that Rioja Oriental is more than just a footnote.
Three regions, one name. Rioja isn’t a single story, it’s a conversation between past and present, a land where tradition and change walk hand in hand. To fully understand it, you have to go deeper, cellar by cellar, vineyard by vineyard, glass by glass.
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Read more on tempranillo in BKWine Magazine’s grape variety profile here.
Rioja Alta
Rioja Alta is the old soul of the region, where time moves at the pace of a slow-maturing gran reserva. History seeps into the stones, the barrels, the railway tracks that once carried these wines to the world. If Rioja has a birthplace for its fame, it’s here, in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, where the scent of American oak and the echoes of steam engines still linger in the air.
The story (of the modern era in Rioja) begins in the late 19th century, when phylloxera devastated Bordeaux, forcing the French to look south for wine. Rioja’s winemakers, quick to adapt, embraced new techniques such as ageing in barrels instead of skins, blending grapes for consistency, and shipping wines by train. The railway station in Haro became the epicentre of this transformation, with iconic wineries like López de Heredia, La Rioja Alta, CVNE, Muga, and Gómez Cruzado setting up shop within walking distance of the tracks. (Ed.: The train station in Haro was inaugurated in 1863 and connected Rioja with the port city of Bilbao.)
Even today, these bodegas define the classic Rioja style, wines built on tempranillo, softened by garnacha, graciano, and mazuelo (previously called cariñena, and elsewhere known as carignan), then aged to perfection in American oak. López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia is a time capsule, still made with the same patience as a century ago. La Rioja Alta 904 and 890 Gran Reservas are a lesson in elegance. Muga, with its own cooperage, continues the tradition of hand-crafted barrels. This is Rioja Alta in its purest form: structured, refined, timeless.
But history isn’t the only story being told here. A new generation is reshaping Rioja Alta, looking beyond the station walls. Juan Carlos Sancha, a doctor and winemaker, is leading the charge in the Najerilla Valley, championing old-vine garnacha and reviving rare varieties like maturana tinta and tempranillo blanco. His wines are a bridge between past and future, rooted in tradition but stripped of excess, letting the vineyards speak for themselves.
Then there’s Ramón Bilbao’s Las Aves project, where single-vineyard expressions push Rioja beyond the boundaries of age classifications. Olivier Rivière, a Frenchman who saw the untapped potential of Rioja Alta’s high-altitude sites, crafts wines that are as much about place as they are about structure.
These winemakers aren’t rejecting tradition; they’re expanding it. Rioja Alta, once defined by time spent in oak, is now also about the time spent in the vineyard. About terroir, site expression, and the balance between structure and freshness. The wines still age beautifully, but they no longer need to wait decades to show their soul.
And so Rioja Alta continues, caught between the past and the future, the rails and the vines, the station and the horizon.
Rioja Alavesa
Rioja Alavesa is the rebel sibling of the Rioja trio, a land where limestone-rich soils and Atlantic breezes conspire to craft wines with a distinct edge. Here, the vineyards cling to the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria, their roots digging deep into calcareous clay, extracting a minerality that sets this sub-region apart. If Rioja Alta is about time spent in oak, Rioja Alavesa is about place, about vineyards etched into hillsides and cellars carved into the earth.
The story of Rioja Alavesa is woven into the medieval streets of Laguardia, where underground caves — originally dug to store grain and escape invaders — now cradle barrels of tempranillo. These cellars, cool and dark, provide the perfect environment for slow ageing, preserving the fresh acidity and vibrant fruit that define the wines. At Casa Primicia, one of the oldest buildings in the village, winemaking traditions date back to the 15th century, with every bottle a link in an unbroken chain of history.
Yet Rioja Alavesa is not a region bound by tradition alone. In Samaniego, the striking glass structure of Bodegas Baigorri rises from the earth like a temple to modern winemaking, its gravity-fed system a blend of innovation and respect for the grape. Nearby, at Ramirez de Ganuza, meticulous attention to detail from hand-selecting grapes to ageing in fine-grained French oak results in wines that balance power with finesse.
It’s a place where even small, family-run bodegas like Ostatu and Dominio de Berzal are making waves, their wines showcasing old-vine tempranillo and graciano with purity and precision. At Eguren Ugarte, a labyrinth of tunnels stretches for kilometres beneath the vineyards, a testament to the centuries of winemaking that have shaped this land.
But it’s not just about the wine. The villages of Rioja Alavesa, such as Elciego, Leza, and Labastida, offer a glimpse of life where every street has a story. In Elciego, the futuristic curves of the Marqués de Riscal City of Wine contrast sharply with the cobblestone alleys and baroque façades. Pintxos bars overflow with locals, where a glass of young, fruit-driven tempranillo is a passport to conversation.
This balance of past and present, of limestone and legacy, defines Rioja Alavesa. It’s a region that wears its history with pride but isn’t afraid to embrace the future, where every sip is a reminder that great wine is born from the soil but shaped by the hands that tend it.
Rioja Oriental
Rioja Oriental is the wild east of Rioja, a land where the sun paints everything gold and the vineyards stretch out like a sea of green under a burning sky. It’s a place where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic in a swirl of red fruit, spice, and the warm breath of the Cierzo wind. For years, it was seen as Rioja’s lesser sibling. Too hot, too dry, too bold. But the times are changing, and so is the story.
This is the part of Rioja that first saw Roman vines twist around wooden stakes and felt the hooves of Moorish horses stir its dust. It’s where the Ebro River slices through the valley, carving out a landscape of iron-rich clay, pebbles, and sandstone. A landscape that might seem harsh at first but rewards those who dig a little deeper — both in soil and in spirit.
Álvaro Palacios saw that potential early on. Known for rewriting the rules in Priorat, he turned his gaze to the slopes of the Sierra de Yerga and found garnacha (grenache) with the soul of a poet. Ripe and hedonistic, but balanced with a surprising freshness. His wines are a reminder that Rioja Oriental isn’t just about raw power; it’s about complexity, about letting the fruit tell its story without drowning it in oak.
Read BKWine Magazine’s grape profile on garnacha / grenache here.
Then there’s Bodegas Domeco de Jarauta, a family-run affair with a passion for tradition. In their cool, stone cellars, they craft garnacha and tempranillo that speak of the earth – blackberry, spice, and a hint of balsamic from time in French and American oak. Their wines are Rioja Oriental in a glass, ripe but never rushed, powerful but with a touch of elegance.
Bodegas Aradón traces its roots back to a village abandoned centuries ago, its ruins now hidden among the vines. Their wines are a tribute to that forgotten past, made with fruit from old vines and a focus on balance. Their garnacha is all about purity, no heavy oak, just bright red fruit, a touch of earth, and a finish that lingers like a half-remembered song.
In Bodegas y Viñedos Villarroya, you’ll find a dedication to site-specific expressions. They work with plots high up on the slopes, where cooler nights help the grapes keep their acidity. The result? Tempranillo and garnacha have both power and poise, and they are wines that are structured but with enough freshness to keep things interesting.
Over at Bodegas Nestares Eguizábal, the focus is on letting the fruit speak for itself. Their wines are modern but not flashy, dark fruit, a bit of spice, and oak that’s more a stage than a mask. It’s about transparency, about showing that Rioja Oriental can do finesse just as well as weight.
Bodegas y Viñedos Ortega Ezquerro brings a similar philosophy to their old-vine garnacha. Their vineyards in Tudelilla might look like a postcard from Provence — gnarled vines twisted against a blue sky — but the wines are pure Rioja Oriental: lush, spicy, with a depth that comes from vines that have seen more summers than some of their winemakers.
Even white wines are finding a place here, with garnacha blanca and viura (known as macabeu in some other regions) grown at higher altitudes, bringing citrus, white peach, and a streak of minerality. Rosados (rosé), once an afterthought, are now pale and crisp, with wild strawberry and grapefruit, the kind of wine you want on a sun-drenched terrace with nothing but time to kill.
In the villages of Aldeanueva de Ebro, Autol, and Calahorra, life moves to the rhythm of the harvest. Tapas bars spill onto the plazas, the air is thick with the scent of grilled lamb and pimientos del piquillo, and every other table seems to have a bottle of garnacha open. As the sun dips behind the mountains, the vineyards glow gold, and you can almost hear the land breathing – slow, steady, waiting for the cool of night.
This is Rioja Oriental: bold but balanced, sun-drenched but structured. A region that defies easy categorisation, where every vintage is a reminder that even under the hottest skies, elegance can flourish.
In the end, Rioja is a reminder that great wine is about balance. Not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, between old and new, past and future. For those willing to explore, it’s a region that rewards curiosity with every sip.
Salud!
