Page 433 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

THE WEALTH OF THE GRAPE

La Rioja, and the surrounding areas of Navarra and the Basque province of Álava,
is Spain’s best-regarded wine-producing region. La Rioja itself is further divided
into three separate wine-producing areas: Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa.
The principal grape of Rioja is the tempranillo. The first taste of a tempranillo is of
leather and cherries and the wine lingers on the tongue.
The Riojans have had a long love affair with wine. There’s evidence that both the
Phoenicians and the Celtiberians produced and drank wine here and the earliest
written evidence of grape cultivation in La Rioja dates to 873. Today, some 250
million litres of wine bursts forth from the grapes of La Rioja annually. Almost all
of this (around 85%) is red wine, though some quality whites and rosés are also
produced. The Riojan love of wine is so great that in the town of Haro they even have
a fiesta devoted to wine. It culminates with a messy ‘wine battle’ in which thousands
of litres of wine gets chucked around, turning everyone’s clothes red in the process.
This takes place on 29 June. SPAIN 31 ROvING LA RIOjA WINE REGION
How to find a good bottle? Spanish wine is subject to a complicated system of
classification, similar to the ones used in France and Italy. La Rioja is the only wine
region in Spain classed as Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOC), the highest
grade and a guarantee that any wine labelled as such was produced according to
strict regional standards. The best wines are often marked with the designation
‘Crianza’ (aged for a year in an oak barrel), ‘Reserva’ (aged for two years, at least
one of which is in an oak barrel) and ‘Gran Reserva’ (aged for two years in an oak
barrel and three years in the bottle).

latch on to the back of de la Cultura del Vino; www. some wine tasting, and
a tour. dinastiavivanco.com; adult/ by booking in advance,
child €8/free; h11am-6pm you can join a tour of the
The Drive » Briones is almost
within walking distance of Tue-Fri & Sun, 10am-8pm Sat winery (€20 including
Haro. It’s just 9km away (10 Jul-Aug, shorter hours rest of museum entry; in Span-
minutes) along the N124. year). Over several floors ish only).
you will learn all about
the history and culture The Drive » It’s 19km (25
TRIP HIGHLIGHT minutes) along the N232 to
of wine and the various Elciego. The scenery, which is
6 Briones processes that go into its made up of endless vineyards,
One man’s dream has production. All of this is will delight anyone who enjoys
put the small, obscenely done through interesting wide open spaces. In the
quaint village of Briones displays brought to life distance are strange sheer-
firmly on the Spanish with computer technol- faced table-topped mountains.
wine and tourism ogy. The treasures on
map. The sunset-gold display include Picasso- 7 Elciego
village crawls gently designed wine jugs;
up a hillside and offers Roman and Byzantine When the owner of the
commanding views over mosaics; gold-draped, Bodegas Marqués de
the surrounding vine- wine-inspired religious Riscal, in the village
carpeted plains. It’s on artifacts; and the world’s of Elciego, decided
these plains where you largest collection of he wanted to create
will find the fantastic corkscrews. At the end something special, he
Dinastía Vivanco (Museo of the tour you can enjoy didn’t hold back. The

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