We were recently taking a ferry from Spain to the UK (Bilbao → Portsmouth) and decided to use this opportunity to explore the north of the Iberian Peninsula. The obvious destinations in that part of the country are cities such as San Sebastian, Bilbao or Santander and popular regions such as Asturias (with its Picos de Europa mountain range) or the Basque Country (known for their independence inclinations and a unique language). However, we decided to stay away from the more touristy coast and instead get to know one of two major wine regions of Spain - La Rioja.

Spanish Wine Primer

They key thing to know about Spanish wine is that it’s fairly cheap, it’s mostly red and there’s quite a lot of it. In fact, Spain dedicates more land to growing grapes than any other country. The two most famous wine-producing regions are La Rioja and Ribera del Duero - in fact, when you order wine in a restaurant in Spain, you’ll often be asked whether you want Rioja or Ribera, as if only those two types of wine existed. However, you won’t be asked that question when ordering wine in La Rioja; indeed, most establishments would not only exclusively serve wine from the region they’re located in, they typically only stock alcohol produced by wineries from the same town.

When it comes to total wine production, Italy and France beat Spain, which does not necessarily mean that they’re more efficient, as not all grapes are used to make wine. In any case, the European trio of Spain, Italy and France dominates the wine market, accounting for more than half of worldwide production (53% as of 2020 according to International Organisation of Vine and Wine). What sets Spain apart from the other two is the surprisingly small per capita wine consumption - roughly 24 liters per annum, half of what an average Italian of French person drinks.

Another very important factor that you must be aware of to make informed decisions in restaurants and stores is the length of the ageing process. It’s the time that wine spends in barrels and bottles following fermentation but prior to being consumed, during which various chemical processes enrich its bouquet, allowing a wine specialist to tick more categories on their wine aroma wheel (such as the one depicted below). Now, this is a complex process that requires plenty of storage space, maintenance of adequate climatic conditions, constant monitoring and preservation (unwanted chemicals tend to accumulate in barrels which need to be regularly emptied and refilled as a result). Timing is key - age your wine too long and you’ll end up with a decrepit, acidic beverage that no one will want to drink. No wonder then that majority of wine consumed around the world undergoes no ageing.

Wine Aroma Wheel

In any case, what you need to know is that there are three categories distinguished - (i) crianza, characterised by minimum 2 years of ageing, at least one of which must be in a barrel, (ii) reserva, with three-years-long ageing (min. 1 in a barrel) and (iii) gran reserva, which must be aged for at least 5 years, two of which are in a barrel. In absence of any of these on a wine’s label, you can safely assume it’s not been aged, which could be considered the fourth, and biggest by volume, category.

Cellar of Bodegas Vivanco (see below) where wine is aged

Finally, a bit of nomenclature: wineries are universally called bodegas in Spanish, which literally refers to a (wine) cellar, but in practice has a richer meaning denoting a winery and possibly even a vineyard.

San Vicente de la Sonsierra

Somewhat arbitrarily, we ended up booking accommodation in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, which turned out to be a great choice. Beautifully set on top of a steep hillside, with a fairly well-preserved castle towering over it and a picturesque river meandering right below, this historic town with a population of a little over 1000 boasts 27 bodegas. We had dinner in a local restaurant/bar called El Paseo Gastrobar (this seemed like the place where the locals hang out, but it definitely is not what you’d expect of a traditional Spanish bar; food was ok and service a bit slow) and enjoyed strolling around the pueblo at dark (quite empty, even on a Friday night) as well as in the morning (busier).

The towering castle in San Vicente de la Sonsierra

The best thing we did was certainly breakfast in the form of a bocadillo con jamón y queso (piece of bread with cheese and ham). Crucially, we didn’t order it in a restaurant but bought ingredients in a shop - Carnicería Ángel Monge at Plaza Mayor right next to Ayuntamiento - and made the sandwiches on a bench nearby the shop. This way, it was fast, cheap and filling.

Preparation of the breakfast…

…and the final product

Arguably the most interesting fact about San Vicente de la Sonsierra is that it is the only remaining town in Spain where an old Christian tradition called Los Picaos still takes place. It is a penance in which volunteers referred to as disciplitantes get dressed in white tunics with a hole in the back and take part in a procession, at some point of which they will be repeatedly lashed with a mop of cotton (around 1000 times). This practice traditionally takes place during Holy Week (on Holy Thursday and Good Friday) but is also carried out at the start of May and in mid-September.

Briones

Just three kilometers down the road from San Vicente one finds Briones, a medieval town erected on a hill (as is typical in Spain) with a characteristic church tower dominating its outline in a similar way that the castle commands the neighbouring pueblo. What sets Briones apart is its belonging to the Los pueblos más bonitos de España (eng. The most beautiful towns of Spain) association, which promotes small (under 15,000 inhabitants) Spanish towns that boast architectural or natural heritage and generally take care of their look (e.g., through maintenance of facades) and visitors’ comfort (e.g., by implementing traffic regulations).

Briones seen from the Vivanco museum

Indeed, Briones’ nucleus (the part within city walls) is clean and elegant, with plenty of historic buildings (oldest one from XVI century), cobbled streets, tapas bars and a Plaza España. However, we wouldn’t consider it vastly superior to San Vicente - each has its own charm… maybe Briones has a little more.

While in Briones, we had lunch - we chose a restaurant based on our typical selection criteria which is (1) at least 4 stars in Google maps, ideally average of 4.5 or higher, (2) “out of spotlight” location, i.e., somewhere where typical tourists wouldn’t venture. As usual, this meant we had to do a bit of extra walking, but ultimately we were more than happy with our choice, which was Asador los Nietos. The highlight was a 3.50€ half-litre carafe of house wine, but a regional specialty potato dish called Patatas a la Riojana did not disappoint either.

Vivanco Museum

We’re normally not big fans of museums, with some rare exceptions such as the Science Museum in London, Computer History Museum in Palo Alto or The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, Poland. After our trip to La Rioja, we’ve added one more item to that list. The Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture is one of the best rated wine museums in the world. The site is impressive in itself, with acres of vineyards and somewhat exotic (Japanese?) looking buildings you surely won’t miss if you drive past.

Welcome to Vivanco!

The museum is divided into five sections that describe in detail the wine-making process (section 1), illustrate how wine barrels and corks are manufactured (2), explain some intricacies of wine production such as barrels maintenance, wine bottling and transportation or various methods of squeezing grapes (3). It’s all quite interactive, with plenty of videos and real (often huge) machines. The most impressive collection is arguably that of corkscrews (the final, 5th section of the museum), with thousands of items displayed, demonstrating the evolution of this simple device. Finally, there’s a more cultural section (4) that has some paintings and other exhibits, but we mostly skipped that.

One of few impressive machines (this one for squeezing grapes) in section 3 of the museum

The only downside is that the museum is mostly in Spanish, but they at least provide an English audioguide, available on a special app which you have to download (not the best user experience but it works).

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the site hosts the bodega as well and offers tours and tastings. We did both, but would not recommend - the guide was fine but the tour just felt a bit too commercial and lacked intimacy. And the wine itself was rather disappointing, though that’s just personal opinion.

Conclusion

We will definitely be coming back to La Rioja to explore other parts of this charming area. It was a really chilled weekend full of tasty food, good wine and slow, stress-free life. Here are a few tips which might make your visit smoother:

• Being in the north and some distance from the coast, La Rioja gets cold between October and April and even in the summer you can expect chilly mornings and evenings; September is probably the best month to visit due to moderate weather and beautiful red colors of maturing vineyards - we imagine it is also the busiest; early May, which is when the trip described above took place, was also good as there were no crowds and weather was decent
• Don’t try to see all of Rioja at once; instead, pick a town or two and spend one or two nights there to get to know it well
• This destination is particularly couple-friendly as it is easy to find accommodation for two and vineyards make for quite a romantic setting
• We think it would be difficult to explore La Rioja without a car and the nearest airports, Burgos and Vitoria, are roughly one hour away by car; the upshot is that it gets logistically complicated if you don’t live in Spain and wanna come for a few days

In any case, it feels great to do some turismo de interior, i.e., exploration of Spain’s inland. Most tourists, and locals as well to be fair, stick to the coast, which leads to the phenomenon known as España vacia (eng. empty Spain). The emptiness refers to the inner regions which, truth be told, are often less hospitable due to mountainous terrain and extreme temperatures. Madrid is one exception to this trend; Zaragoza is another one. Still, this exodus means that 90% of Spaniards live in Madrid or near the coast, which in total make up 30% of Spain’s territory, leaving the other 70% inhabited by just under five million people.

Population per square kilometer visualised

As a result, inner Spanish communities such as Castilla - La Mancha or Castilla y León lag the rest of the country in terms of development, facilities and job opportunities, driving even more people (especially young) away in a self-propelling cycle. Hence, by spending some time (and money!) in these forgotten regions, you’re doing something good - supporting local, neglected communities and counteracting the worrying trend described above.

We leave you with some Riojan landscapes.

Sea of vineyards with Briones in the background

Medieval bridge over the Ebro river; Bodega Hacienda López de Haro in the background

This XVI century mansion in the centre of Briones is considered the oldest civil building in La Rioja

Briones seen from San Vicente castle

Los Disciplinantes captured in a mural in San Vicente de la Sonsierra