The Other Rioja

Harvest in the Rioja Alavesa: a grower carries a picking basket on his shoulder through the vines, with the Ebro valley and hazy mountains behind

Hello,

The Rioja everyone knows is made by large wineries in Haro and Logroño: grapes from hundreds of vineyards, years in American oak, vanilla, soft tannins, and a label that tells you how long the wine spent in barrel. Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva: these are months in cask, not places. Until 2017 a wine from Laguardia was not even allowed to call itself a wine from Laguardia. And yet the Rioja Alavesa, on the north bank of the Ebro, has some of the finest vineyards in Spain, and for decades their grapes vanished into the blends of those very wineries. “In the past, it was ‘200% oak’ that made everything taste the same,” says Roberto Oliván of Viñaspre.

That is changing, thanks to people who keep their own grapes and make the wine themselves. Five of these growers are in this letter. Their Rioja tastes different: of limestone, of cool fruit, hardly of oak at all. They agree only on the place. Over oak they still argue. Plus two tasting cases.

Case 1 · Five Houses

Five Houses: Finca de los Locos 2021, Trascuevas 2024, Fincas de Ganuza Reserva 2018, Valdeginés 2022, Maisulan 12 2020, V.L.A.V. Custero 2024

One wine from each house, plus a white

Five Houses
6 wines · approx. €199 →

Case 2 · Six Single Vineyards

Six Single Vineyards: Paso las Mañas 2021, Las Guillermas 2019, Olagar Gran Reserva Blanco 2019, La Hoya 2022, Txabola Graciano 2022, San José 2022

Six wines, each from a single vineyard

Six Single Vineyards
6 wines · approx. €313 →

One click adds all six to your basket.
You can remove or swap individual bottles there, including between the two cases.

Baños de Ebro: Artuke

Arturo and Kike de Miguel named their winery after themselves. Ar-tu-ke. Arturo came back as an agricultural engineer, having been taught that 200% new oak was the goal. It took him a few vintages to unlearn it. Today he plants nothing but bush vines. His most famous parcel is called La Condenada, the Condemned. Tim Atkin gave the 2020 a hundred points, the first red Rioja he had ever given full marks. Even so, the bottle carries the generic green back label, because Arturo rejects the new single-vineyard categories. “Why can’t I label all of my wines with the name of my village?” A good question.

Finca de los Locos 2021

Tempranillo, Graciano, Viura · Baños de Ebro · approx. €27.50

Finca de los Locos is the terrace above the Ebro that their grandfather bought in 1950. The village thought him mad, hence the name. Sand and gravel, with three times the usual limestone. The vines date from 1981, and the wine spends 14 months in old foudres. Plum, rosehip, cold smoke, with cassis and chalk behind. On the palate it grips at first, then opens with air into something bright and clear. Fine-grained tannins, fresh acidity, 13.8%. Luis Gutiérrez gave it 94 points and called the tannins “very fine and elegant”, which they are. I would drink it now with caparrones, the stew of small red beans. Or give it another two years.

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Trascuevas 2024

Viura, Palomino, Malvasía · Baños de Ebro, Ábalos, Samaniego · approx. €42

White Rioja is a discipline of its own. This is one of the best I know. Viura, Palomino and Malvasía from vines over 50 years old in three vineyards, whole-bunch pressed, then 11 months half in foudre, half in concrete. Almond blossom, green pear, mirabelle. Then freshly cut stone and salt, almost like the crust of a pretzel. Taut and juicy, with a fine bitter note at the end that gives it length. Gutiérrez and Suckling both gave it 95 points, and for once I agree with both of them. With bacalao al pil-pil. Or chilled, with almonds and olives, before anyone starts cooking.

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Paso las Mañas 2021

Tempranillo · Samaniego · approx. €35

Paso las Mañas is the highest slope in Samaniego. Just under four hectares of clay and limestone facing south, planted in 1999. In its second year the wind snapped 300 vines, and since then every vine here has had its own stake. Picking comes a month later than in the house’s other vineyards. Red fruit, earth, herbs, none of it overdone. A wine as clear as a mountain stream, with chalky tannins and plenty of grip. Gutiérrez wrote of “an explosive nose of raspberries” at “a moderate 13.6% alcohol” and gave it 95 points. Lamb grilled over vine prunings. Or a piece of Idiazábal.

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Laguardia: Artadi

At the end of 2015 Juan Carlos López de Lacalle did what was unthinkable in Rioja. He left the appellation, “but not my village or my vineyard parcels”. The Consejo Regulador sent staff to collect the unused back labels. Artadi’s argument was simple: wines at €2 and wines at €200 sat in the same category, told apart only by their months in barrel. Two years later the Consejo introduced village and single-vineyard wines. Today his son Carlos runs 56 hectares in Laguardia and Elvillar. His father called Tempranillo a chameleon between Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, “but you have to be careful as it’s also high-yielding”.

Valdeginés 2022

Tempranillo · Laguardia · approx. €60

Four hectares of calcareous clay above Laguardia, facing east. Planted in 1989 and 1992, so younger than the price might suggest. López de Lacalle in any case held that a vineyard’s age mattered less than its soil. Fermented with wild yeasts in open-top wooden vats, then barriques and larger casks. Violets, cherry, a hint of pepper. Silky, slender and, for all its 14.5%, remarkably light. Crunchy red fruit, polished tannins, finesse rather than weight, and you do not notice the oak. Suckling gave it 96 points, Gutiérrez 94. Open it an hour ahead, with duck breast or mushrooms and polenta. Of the twelve wines here, it is the one I would open first.

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La Hoya 2022

Tempranillo · Elvillar · approx. €63

La Hoya is Artadi’s vineyard in Elvillar, a hollow that holds the warmth. Vines from 1965 in deep loam over sandstone. Red, blue and black fruit all at once, cool, with herbs. Lively acidity, silky tannins, and it flows without effort. Five thousand bottles. Suckling 95, Gutiérrez 94, Peñín 94. I mention the consensus only because it is rare. With rack of lamb, or with aged Manchego.

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Samaniego: Remírez de Ganuza

Fernando Remírez de Ganuza was a vineyard broker, and in 1989 he built a bodega in Samaniego without ever having trained in viticulture. “Everything was a test,” says his daughter Cristina. At his sorting table the bunches are still cut in two: the shoulders go into the Reserva and Gran Reserva, the tips into the young wine. The pickers are paid by the hour, not by the crate. In Cristina’s view it is the winery’s job to age the wine “until it is ready to drink”. I approach this school with reservations. Until I have a 12-year-old Trasnocho in my glass.

Fincas de Ganuza Reserva 2018

Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo · Samaniego · approx. €37

The house Reserva comes from the younger vineyards, 25 to 40 years old, in nine villages at the foot of the Sierra. Two years in barrique, a good part of it in new oak. That is more oak than I usually look for. The grapes can take it. Black cherry, coffee, cedar, with blackberry and vanilla behind, and beneath all that it remains cool and fresh, with gripping acidity and dark fruit that has weight yet stays juicy. Of all these wines it comes closest to the Rioja everyone knows. Only better made. Joaquín Hidalgo gave it 93 points. Chuletillas over the embers of vine prunings, or, without meat, a menestra of artichokes and chard.

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Olagar Gran Reserva Blanco 2019

Viura · San Vicente de la Sonsierra · approx. €89

A parcel planted in 1978 in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, 620 metres up, just across the provincial border. Viura alone. Only the free-run juice is fermented, in new barriques. Instead of stirring the lees, they turn the barrels. One of them has a glass end, through which you can watch the sediment settle. After ten months in oak the wine spends six years in bottle before it leaves the bodega. Peach, quince, toasted almonds, a touch of vanilla. Creamy and fresh at once, and it goes on for a long time. The 2017 was named White Wine of the Year in the 2025 Rioja Report. A great white Rioja in the old style. And one that shows why the old style is worth keeping. With pan-fried mushrooms, or bacalao.

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Elvillar: Maisulan

Luis Ruiz de Viñaspre and Eva Fernández began by selling their grapes. In 2001 Luis made a fresh start in Elvillar, with 20 hectares on small slopes between ravines and century-old olive trees. The bodega has no sign. The wines are called Maisulan 6 and Maisulan 12, after their months in barrique, and I find that more honest than many a single-vineyard label. In the vineyard the two of them follow Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese farmer who made doing nothing a method. No critic of standing has scored the wines so far. That works in your favour, for as long as it lasts.

Maisulan 12 2020

Tempranillo, Graciano · Elvillar, Viñaspre · approx. €15.50

Tempranillo with Graciano from five vineyards in Viñaspre and Elvillar, 450 to 550 metres up, the vines up to 50 years old. Twelve months in barrique, hence the number in the name. Red berries, violets, a little earth. A soft, juicy wine with silky tannins and discreet oak, nothing heavy about it. 2020 was a good year in Rioja, and at six years old it is in its drinking window. At this price I know of few better Riojas. With patatas a la riojana, with or without chorizo.

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Txabola Graciano 2022

Graciano · Elvillar, Los Lagos · approx. €36

Los Lagos is a steep south-facing slope above Elvillar, at 525 metres, the soil at the top so thin that the rock breaks through. Pure Graciano. Elsewhere in Rioja the variety is usually a minor part of a blend; here it shows what it can do on its own. Cool and clear, red fruit, blossom, thyme, then cherry and a hint of citrus. Fine-grained tannins, slender build. Concrete tank, then used barrels of 225 and 500 litres. A txabola is a hut in the fields. The label reads: While I work the land, I rest beneath the almond trees. With morcilla, or with a mushroom ragout.

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Viñaspre: Tentenublo

Roberto Oliván is the fourth generation of a family that owned vineyards and sold the grapes. In 2011 he made 3,500 bottles in a garage; today it is around 40,000, in Lanciego. Tentenublo is the ringing of the bells with which the villages here drive off hail clouds. The labels carry V.L.A.V., the free vineyards of the hamlet of Viñaspre. Only wine from the winery’s own village may be called a village wine, so Oliván put his hamlet on the label himself. About the region he says openly what hardly anyone else will: “The middle ground will disappear.”

V.L.A.V. Custero 2024

Garnacha, Tempranillo, Calagraño · Viñaspre · approx. €16.50

The house’s young wine. It grows in a small parcel in Viñaspre that Oliván planted with his own massal selection, more Garnacha than Tempranillo, plus Calagraño, Garnacha Gris and a little Monastrell. Sour cherry, wild raspberry, redcurrant, cool and chalky. Grippy and taut, with an acidity you rarely find in Rioja, and juniper and pepper on the finish. Lightly chilled, with pintxos, grilled chorizo or piquillo peppers. It needs no occasion.

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Escondite del Ardacho Las Guillermas 2019

Tempranillo, Viura · Lanciego · approx. €40

A vineyard in Lanciego, around 70 years old. Tempranillo and up to 40% Viura grow side by side in the same rows and are fermented together, the way the old growers did it. Red fruit and apple skin: that is the Viura giving itself away. Then an acidity that is rare in a red wine. Bite, a slender body, fine-grained tannins, a red wine with the soul of a white. 2019 is the most recent vintage the Consejo Regulador rated Excelente, and the wine is open now. With fried anchovies, or with pochas.

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Escondite del Ardacho San José 2022

Viura, Malvasía, Tempranillo · Lanciego · approx. €49.50

The youngest of the series, first vintage 2022, 995 bottles. A field blend planted in 1952 in Lanciego, 60% Viura and Malvasía, 40% Tempranillo, fermented with the stems. Cool blue fruit and herbs, then a great deal of energy. The freshness absorbs the 15.5% alcohol. Fine-grained tannins, a savoury austerity, tremendous drive. Not a wine to drink in passing. I would keep it for an evening when there is time, and treat it to a decanter. With jamón ibérico, or aged Idiazábal.

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Where to start?

With the Custero and the Maisulan 12, lightly chilled, on the first evening. The Trascuevas with fish. Finca de los Locos and Fincas de Ganuza are two answers to the same question: how much oak can Tempranillo take? I would put them side by side on the same evening. The Valdeginés last, after an hour’s air.

Five Houses:
1× Finca de los Locos 2021 → plum, rosehip, cold smoke
1× Trascuevas 2024 → almond blossom, stone, salt
1× Fincas de Ganuza Reserva 2018 → black cherry, cedar, cool
1× Valdeginés 2022 → violets, cherry, pepper
1× Maisulan 12 2020 → red berries, violets, soft
1× V.L.A.V. Custero 2024 → sour cherry, limestone, juniper

From the Six Single Vineyards case: Las Guillermas and Paso las Mañas are open now. La Hoya and Txabola belong with lamb or mushrooms, the Olagar with bacalao. Save the San José for an evening when there is time.

Five Houses
6 wines · approx. €199 →

Six Single Vineyards
6 wines · approx. €313 →

One click adds all six to your basket. You can remove or swap individual bottles there.

We have around 40 wines from these five houses in the shop, some of them grown across the provincial border in the Rioja Alta: Artuke, Remírez de Ganuza, Artadi, Maisulan and Tentenublo. Two that have not yet appeared in this letter: Artuke’s Pies Negros 2024, the wine from eight parcels in Ábalos, named after the treading of the grapes, approx. €17.50, and the Reserva 2013 in magnum from Remírez de Ganuza, 13 years old, approx. €175.

See all our Rioja wines →

Warm regards from Berlin,

Lisa and the team at
Living Wines

P.S. Trasnocho means something like a night without sleep. Fernando Remírez de Ganuza worked on this wine from 1992 and bottled the first vintage in 2001. Only the shoulders of the bunches go into it, fermented with the skins of Viura and Malvasía. Instead of a press, a water-filled membrane pushes the pomace against the tank wall at half the pressure, without friction and without air. The process is patented. Twenty months in new barriques, around 9,000 bottles a year. The Trasnocho 2014 is 12 years old. Sandalwood, black cardamom, tobacco and mocha, with black cherry, mulberry and dried plum behind. Dense, with close-knit tannins, a fresh acidity that carries it all, and a very long finish. This is the wine that reconciles me to the Samaniego school. Approx. €100.

Five Houses
6 wines · approx. €199 →

Six Single Vineyards
6 wines · approx. €313 →