Rioja: A Gourmet’s Travel Guide

By Ryan Opaz

Overview

To travel through the land of La Rioja is to experience Mother Nature at her finest. Located in the upper half of Spain, La Rioja is bordered by the Basque Country and Navarre to the north, Aragon to the east and Castilla y Leon to the southwest. It is also home to the Iberian mountain range, with an average altitude of 1500 ft that funnels seven rivers into the valley and the famed Ebro River. These rivers go on to form tributaries that create additional valleys in their own right. Together, they create a plush and green area that generously nurtures agriculture.

Rioja is known as a hotbed of outstanding products which provides the foundation for its simple yet quality driven gastronomy. From grapes that craft internationally recognized wines to lettuces, peppers, onions, artichokes, garlic, tomatoes, asparagus, beans, peas, and peppers. And let’s not forget its notable goat and lamb products whose aromas can be savored when tossed over grapevines on open pits.

Rioja Bar & Cafe Scene

Welcome to Logroño, the epicenter of Spanish Tapas. It is the home of hundreds of tiny bars all crammed in an even tinier set of streets all dedicated to their specific set of ingredients. And we speak of dedication, we mean it! Many bars will serve only one of the following: tripe, mushrooms, pigs ears, rabbit stew, chorizo, grilled anchovies, among many others. Mind you, this is not the cutting-edge gastronomic experience that you’ll find in several other restaurants across La Rioja, but it’s not meant to be either. It’s objective is to be a proper Tapas Crawl, which means a few tapas in one location, alongside a glass of wine, followed by a wander to another location where you’ll repeat the process over and over again. Some will continue onto dinner, while others will be perfectly satiated in their ambling tasting menu.

Keep in mind that La Rioja is spread out, and although the hub of fabulous bars lies in Logrono, don’t resist the desire to explore newfound regions with equally fantastic bars.

Calle and Travesía del Laurel (Logroño): Here you will find hundreds of bars and cafes for you to enjoy a wondering tasting menu
Plaza San Martin and Santo Tomas (Haro): Among the plaza, and rabbit warren of streets, you’ll discover dozens of little bars most notable for their local wine selection
La Plaza Mayor (Laguardia): In this quaint medieval city you will find a plethora of fantastic wine bars in and around the square. Don’t hesitate to walk around and pop your head into any little cavern that looks appealing. Undoubtedly, they’ll have great wine and a bite to eat.

Rioja Cuisine

With a wealth of quality ingredients and a history of traditional dishes, it’s not difficult to come to Rioja with high expectations. Drive through the valley covered in blossoming cherry trees and grapevines, and it doesn’t take long to fall in love. But to truly understand the heart and soul of Rioja, you must be willing to open your mind, and your palate, to a vast array of new flavors.

Not to Miss Rioja Delights:

Piquillo Peppers (pimientos riojanos): Typically small and sweet, they are generally skinned and cooked before serving. Perfect fresh, but also great gently wood-roasted and preserved in their own juices, piquillo peppers are ubiquitous in the traditional cuisine of Rioja. You can find them stuffed (with bacalao or lamb); dipped in batter and fried, to make pimientos rellenos; and sometimes part of a stew, especially the substantial bean-and-chorizo stew, pochas a la riojana.
Esparragos Blancos: This white asparagus is a regional specialty from Rioja Baja, prized for its tenderness. To obtain it, farmers must mount dirt around each asparagus shoot daily as it tries to poke out of the soil. As a result, these shoots never see sunlight, which is what makes them so tender. Typically you will find them canned and served with mayonnaise. Otherwise, they can also be grilled and salted and used in many different kinds of dishes including salads, soups, omelets and other egg dishes.
Patatas a la Riojana: Many of you have tasted Patatas Bravas, a typical tapa throughout Spain, but I doubt you’ve tried this version. Spain is not known for its spicy food – even black pepper is looked at cautiously; but here in Rioja, their potatoes come roasted with chorizo and smoky paprika – a delicious combo!
Chuletas Riojana: Perfectly grilled lamb chops over vine cuttings – magical!
Lechal (suckling lamb) or Cochinillo (suckling pig): Either of these wee creatures is fed on its mother’s milk before being killed between the ages of two and six weeks. Roasted with olive oil or butter and served.
Patxaran: Patxaran is the liquor of Rioja. In Euskara, it means sloe berry or baso aran (wild plum), a name you might accurately associate with sloe gin. A small dark berry with red juice, a sloe berry comes from a blackthorn bush and is a relative of the plum, while Patxaran is a sloe-flavored liqueur most commonly drunk in Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja
Rioja Wine: Rioja is one of the most prestigious regions in Spain. Using the red Tempranillo wine as a base, and occasionally blending it with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano grapes, the wineries of this region produce Rioja crianzas (aged for at least twelve months in oak barrels and another twelve months in bottles), reservas (aged at least a year in barrels and another two years in bottles) and gran reservas (aged in oak barrels for at least two years, and another three years in bottles). More information on Rioja wine.

Restaurants in Rioja

Basque chefs and experimental Catalan alchemists have long entered the limelight of world gastronomy over the past decade or so, while Rioja’s culinary stars have remained relatively uncelebrated. But given the scope and quality of Rioja’s cuisine — both classic and creative — it’s hard to imagine this region’s food staying under the radar much longer.

Daroca de Rioja – This town is the reason why we encourage people to get out and travel to the smaller lesser known pueblos where you can find Venta Moncalvillo. This Michelin Star family-run restaurant serves traditional cuisine, made of high quality, and locally sourced, products.
Laguardia – Beyond the fab cafes and bars, you’ll also find dozens of outstanding restaurants speckling the narrow medieval streets. Examples include Amelibia, offering modern interpretations of traditional classics, with excellent quality local ingredients and an exceptional wine list.
Páganos – Here you will find wee restaurants such as Hector Oribe. This compact rustic-style dining room and a small, and open-view wine cellar, specializes in traditional, creative cuisine that makes full use of produce from its own vegetable garden.

Festivals in Rioja

Spain’s endless enthusiasm for festivals and gatherings means that there’s hardly ever a week in the year that doesn’t include at least one. Whilst the majority of the fiestas are either cultural or religious, there are also gastronomy and cattle-related fiestas, not to mention the most relevant, wine-related fiestas.

But as your time is limited, let’s highlight some of our personal favorites:

Festivals of Santo Domingo de la Calzada (10th to 15th May): Hundreds of years ago, King Alfonso X “the Wise” granted a royal privilege to the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, allowing it to celebrate an annual fair. What started as an agricultural and livestock event, has gradually become a unique and especially attractive traditional fiesta where you can find medieval crafts, gastronomy, music, dance, street theatre and shows.
Battle of the Wine in Haro (June 29): The Battle of the Wine is part of the Haro festival in honor of San Juan, San Felices, and San Pedro. This wine battle has its origins in a territorial dispute between the towns of Miranda de Ebro, in Burgos, and the town of Haro in La Rioja for possession of the place called Riscos de Bilibio. Mass is held at the shrine of San Felices and this is followed by lunch. Once over, it is time for the Battle of the Wine to commence: participants throw thousands of liters of wine at each other, using all kinds of containers and tanks until everyone’s clothes have been stained a crimson color and the atmosphere is laden with wine.
Stilt Dancers of Anguiano (22 June and last Saturday in September): This stunning dance is performed on 45 cm high wooden stilts by eight young men from the village, dressed in colorful waistcoats and yellow skirts which has become an internationally renowned tradition. The stilt walkers hurtle down the steep slope from the church to the main village square where you can experience their full glory – however, we do not suggest you try this at home.
Rioja Grape Harvest (22 September): It is held in Logroño during a week around the 21st of September. On the 21^st, St Matthew’s Feast Day, a traditional act takes places in the Paseo del Espolón square, in which the first grape juice from the wine harvest is offered to the Virgen of Valvanera, the patron Saint of La Rioja. During this week of fiestas, the Logroño celebrations include a procession of floats, food and wine tasting organized by the “Peñas” or social clubs, bullfights, the St Matthew pelota contest at the Frontón court of Adarraga, concerts, theatre, street music, fireworks on the river Ebro River.

Mind you that all of these festivals have plenty of street food and wine or beer stands available; hence it’s worth the excuse to wander.

Sightseeing in Rioja

Whether you’re drenched in wine from participating in a few fiestas or fully satiated from a 6-course meal, make sure to take the opportunity to wander through the picturesque towns dotting Rioja.

Dinosaur Tracks: Over 120 million years ago, dinosaurs inhabited Rioja from which their fossilized footprints still remain among the rocks. If your passions dictate, you’re welcome to take a guided tour of the 40 tracks currently excavated throughout the La Rioja region. Quite the treat for the budding paleontologists among us.
Monasteries: For more than ten centuries, La Rioja has been home to many spiritual centers, of which many of which are a treasure to visit. Examples include the Monastery of Santa Maria de San Salvador which was started by the Cister order of nuns and dates to 1170. The Monasteries of Suso and Yuso were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language.
Museums: La Rioja boasts of dozens of museums including art, architectural and archaeological museums, but nothing quite compares to the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine. This 4000-meter museum belonging to the Vivanco Foundation and houses a wide range of wine archaeology, sculpture, painting, etc., giving us a universal vision of the relevance that wine has had in all civilizations throughout history.

Accommodation in the Rioja

Naturally, if you’re going to make a destination out of Rioja, it’s best to ensure your accommodations are topnotch as well.

Hotel Echaurren Ezcaray: Priding itself on its gastronomy, this centenary family establishment has passed from father to son – currently run by the 5th generation. You can find this Basque hotel, nestled in the historic center of the town of Ezcaray, opposite the parish church of Santa Maria Maggiore (national monument).
Señorìo de Briñas: In Briñas, 3 km. from Haro, a 7th-8th-century hotel exists where you will find peace, quiet and history. During the Spanish Civil War, it was used as headquarters by the Italian troops. Today, it hosts a small hotel that still has the splendor of his past. Plunge into the harmony of its charming spaces, decorated with stone, terracotta floors, antiques, pottery, as well as a spa.
Marques de Riscal: Designed by the architect Frank O. Gehry, creator of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the hotel has spectacular views of vineyards over El Ciego. Complete with a spa, and a Michelin star restaurant, it’s a stunning hotel surrounded by vineyards.
Hotel Viura: The latest addition to Rioja’s architectural portfolio is Hotel Viura in Rioja Alavesa, a 4-star luxury boutique hotel designed by Joseba and Xabier Aramburu. The hotel features a restaurant offering fantastic local gastronomy, a wine- tasting bar, an antique wine cellar, a wine bar, gym and a rooftop terrace. From the terrace, there are panoramic views of the San Andres Church, which was built between 1538 and 1728. There are also views of the Cantabrian mountains.