Rioja reimagined: independent growers champion villages, terroir and creativity Spanish Wine Lover

Typically thorough and marvellous article, exploring some of the more interesting options in #Rioja
spanishwinelover.com/rioja-reimag...

Oh no! Could be some damage in #Rioja from hail.

Fantastic! Many congratulations, must be a heavily contested category. I'm sure you'll have a great time at Naia, and no doubt Laura will show you the red carpet.

Awesome. What was the prize?
#Rueda #wine

Had to try these, they seem to enjoy good distribution in the village I was staying at. Very pleasant and always good to go local. #Beer #Pirineos

Definitely not a #Spanish thing. There's a bit in NE Spain, but was basically planted 30 odd years ago (more in the case of Torres I think), when these regions were trying to be New World. Thing is it's pretty good, and I guess sells ok, so there's no real incentive to change.

Groundhog day.
Day 2 in the #Pyrenees
Another glass of #ViñasDelVero #Gewürztraminer at #BarFran in #Hecho

#Hecho in the #Spanish #Pyrenees

Starting off with a glass of #ViñasDelVero #Gewürztraminer in #Hecho, #Spanish #Pyrenees

Beautiful sunrise this morning in the #Rioja #wine region.

Another #vines starting out pic at #BodegasObalo #Rioja. After decent winter rains, I wonder what the year will bring?

Out on my bike this afternoon, I found this nice #vineyard - #Rioja.

Great question, actually not something I have good records on. Right now, you could probably find a 2 week variation across the region (it's a big region). But if you mean same spot, year on year, not so much. I "think" the soil needs to warm up to 10ºC, which should iron out weather I suppose

Our #Tempranillo #vineyard near #Labastida, barely getting going after a cool weekend. Things set to warm up this weekend though. #Rioja

Interesting to read this. In the Europe though, the point about the affordability of #naturalwines is much less valid. Yes they tend to be less expensive than famous #wines, but they are generally much less affordable than mainstream wines. Very roughly I'd estimate twice the price, here in Spain.

A few pics from last night in #Logroño in the rain.

Wet night in #Logroño

Not often I am thinking #durian on a #winetasting note.

Not sure I agree. I've had quite a few occasions when things turn sour. Being a foreigner automatically puts me at a disadvantage...this guy we don't know orders a wine then doesn't like it and complains etc. Can get quite heated sometimes, so unfortunately I always weigh up whether it's worth it.

#Corked #wine, so ridiculous in 2026. Just ordered a glass of well-known Rioja. Medium level corked. Was going to put up with it, as it's in a bar with no wine knowledge, but couldn't drink it by the 3rd sip. Told them and they swapped it straight away. Hooray🙂

Not sure I've got a great answer for you, but I'll try. This is actually a pretty dense #vineyard for these parts. We leave 2 buds per node and I suppose the nodes are 15-20cm apart? So maybe 3-4 per foot. The rows are maybe 2m wide. There are also bushvines around here that have way less.

Beautiful day in La #Rioja

#Filtering our young #wine today, ready for bottling tomorrow. Am going to throw in this barrel of "Fun Red" for a touch more #Garnacha, and to have an extra 290 bottles or so.

#BodegasObalo #Rioja

Mixed agriculture in #LaRioja

That's a lot of #torrezno

Sounds like a great line up. Please let me know if I can help.

No, I've not been to that area, it's on the wish list. I don't think I've even heard of that as a wine region either, although of course I knew they grew grapes around there. By a very weird coincidence the other wine we has was an orange wine! A 10% German number that tasted like cider.

Out on the town in #Logroño last night. Got a friend in town, so it's 4 nights out of 5. The usual amazing #wine and food options at #Tastavin #TorresGastrobar and #Roots

La #Rioja doing its best Mendoza impression these days, with lateish snowfall in the #SierraDeLaDemanda still holding up, depite warm afternoon temperatures.

Out on my bike, around the #vineyards of La #Rioja this morning. You can see here how the two young vines (to the left) got going faster than the older vine (to the right).