The Great Houses of Rioja
Two Classic Rioja Styles
Rioja doesn’t have Grand Crus, but certain wineries in Spain’s most famous wine region have a reputation for fine wines. There are old-school producers who have been making long-aged wines for generations: this is what I term classic Rioja. There are also newer wineries that make a different style, often less aged and more fruity. These “new-style” Riojas are as respected today as the classics; both Rioja styles are considered classic.
Other Rioja wineries make world-class wines that, while not considered traditional or old-school, are breaking through the attention filters for being lighter, fresher terroir wines. I’ll write about some of the groundbreakers in an upcoming post about growers and vignerons.
Classic Rioja Winemaking: Tradition and Consistency
The classic Rioja wineries make some of the most famous and highly rated Rioja wines. Such wineries can be called classic wineries and their wines classic Riojas. The classic wineries are largely the region’s oldest: many have been around for more than a century. Some of the most notable are based in Haro’s Station Quarter, but others like Marqués de Riscal and Marqués de Murrieta are found in the Riojan countryside.
What defines many classic Rioja wineries is their winemaking. A typical classic Rioja might be made as follows. Tempranillo grapes from the heart of Rioja are blended with Garnacha from southern Rioja, Graciano or Mazuelo. The resulting wine is aged for at least 1 year and often 3-6 years in used American oak barrels or oak vats. After bottling, the wine is aged for additional years in bottle, 1 to 5 or more years. The wine is sold with a designation like Reserva or Gran Reserva that means it’s been aged for a minimum amount of time. The Gran Reservas are the winery’s finest wines, followed by Reservas. If there are multiple Gran Reservas, one is usually notably higher end than the other.
Often wines are brought to market a decade or more after the harvest, spending time in bottle to mellow them out before release. Thus a Gran Reserva Rioja on the market in 2025 might be from 2015, 2010 or even 2004! Classic Rioja is not a style for impatient wineries.
Classic Rioja Wine
Classic Rioja wines, especially the top-shelf ones, are nearly immortal. A few decades on a Gran Reserva from a classic house is still young, and a well-kept bottle from a good vintage has been known to last a century. For the better part of a century, these were considered the only red wines of note in Spain. Producers like La Rioja Alta, López de Heredia, Marqués de Murrieta, Marqués de Riscal & Muga specialize in this style of wine.
If you taste classic Rioja, expect a wine with complex aromas of spices, tobacco and leather. Younger wines might have ripe fruit flavors, while older ones are marked by dried fruit. Classic Riojas are usually straightforward, accessible wines, enjoyable regardless of age. This character helps explain Rioja’s popularity in Spain and abroad, with or without food.
New Style Rioja Winemaking: Terroir and Expression
Other famous Rioja wines, perhaps more famous today than the old-school icons, come from producers who were rebels in their day, making new wines. In Spain many of these are grouped under the term “alta expresión,” a term introduced in the 1990s for wineries following the fashions of the time: new French oak, high extraction and an affinity for Parker points. The points did come, to Artadi and Contador and Remírez de Ganuza most visibly but to others as well.
A top new-style Rioja might be made as follows. Tempranillo grapes are harvested from a single old-vine vineyard. The resulting wine is aged for 12-18 months in a new French oak barrel from a French cooper. After bottling, the wine spends a year or so aging at the winery. The wine is brought to market under the name of the vineyard or a brand name, and does not say Reserva or Gran Reserva. A producer might bottle several different vineyards, without one being sold as better than the others, just different.
New Style Rioja Wines
New-style Rioja wine offers drinkers a different experience. The wine’s aromas are fruity and powerful, with less presence of spicy, woody notes. The wines are deep and concentrated, dark in color, overflowing with flavor. These are the kind of wines you want to enjoy by the fireplace or pair with a steak. Some can be compared to wines from Ribera del Duero, but friendlier and less austere.
New Style Rioja Wines Turn Benchmark
Today the one-time rebel wines are themselves benchmarks for the region. Wines like Artadi Viña El Pisón, Contador, Finca Allende’s Calvario, Remírez de Ganuza’s Trasnocho and Roda’s Cirsión are some of the best wines in the region. The effect: Classic wineries have followed the model set by these wines for their own “new-style” Riojas, with wines like CVNE’s Contino Viña El Olivo, Marqués de Murrieta’s Dalmau and Muga’s duo Torre Muga and Aro making waves around the world.
Classic Rioja Wineries
La Rioja Alta
Storied producer of the top Gran Reserva wines from Rioja: 904 and 890
La Rioja Alta represents a pinnacle of classic Rioja wine. For more than a century, this winery has been making long-aged reds in Haro’s Station Quarter. Rioja Alta’s wines hew to the style that made Rioja great, aging Tempranillo-based red blends for years in American oak and in bottle to release wines that are ready to drink but can evolve for decades in the cellar. Even among traditional Rioja wineries, Rioja Alta is a notable specialist in Gran Reserva wines built for cellaring. The 904 and 890 Gran Reserva wines are among the great wines of Rioja, regularly garnering high scores from critics and filling the cellars of collectors and sommeliers around the world.
López de Heredia - Viña Tondonia
The cult winery of Haro, storied producers of long-aged and long-lived reds, whites, and rosés
There are few names in Spanish wine with more mystique than Viña Tondonia, the common name for Bodegas López de Heredia, one of the Rioja’s oldest wineries. They have made single vineyard wines since the foundation of the winery in the 19th century, when such a practice was rare in Rioja. The Viña Tondonia vineyard became so associated with the winery that its name was added to the winery’s.
The López de Heredia family believes in extraordinarily long barrel and bottle aging to ensure that a wine is both ready to drink on release and able to age for decades. Their red Crianza is old enough to be a Gran Reserva! The reds are all extraordinary, with the top Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva reaching mythic heights and receiving rave reviews from critics. Tondonia applies the same winemaking philosophy to several whites and a rare rosé, aging some for over a decade before release. These unique wines can age for generations in bottle, and are perhaps most responsible for the legendary status of López de Heredia to wine lovers worldwide. Tondonia is where you can taste Riojas as they once were, made with extraordinary care but with utter devotion to history and tradition.
Marqués de Murrieta
Chateau-style winery known for the peerless Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva
Marques de Murrieta was founded in 1852 by Luciano Murrieta, a major figure in 19th century Riojan history. After a long history of quality wine production, the winery was bought by the Cebrián-Sagarriga family in 1983, who have modernized the winemaking and restored the Ygay Castle, originally called Château Ygay in a nod to Bordeaux.
Today Marqués de Murrieta makes top reservas and gran reservas from Finca Ygay, the vineyard that surrounds the castle near Logroño in Rioja Alta. The Marqués de Murrieta Reserva, Marqués de Murrieta Gran Reserva, and the Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva are classic Riojas designed for long aging. Castillo Ygay is a world-class Gran Reserva, loved by critics and collectors of fine Rioja wines. Dalmau, a more recent addition, reflects a modern Rioja style made from old vines, more extracted and aged in new French oak. Capellanía, from a single plot of 100% old-vine Viura aged in French oak, is a premier white Reserva.
Marqués de Riscal
Rioja’s most venerable producer of fine wines makes classic and innovative wines next to their stunning Frank Gehry hotel
There are quite a few marquises in the history of Riojan wine, but perhaps none has done more for the region than the Marqués de Riscal and his descendants. The original marquis, starting in 1858, was among the first to bottle wine in Rioja, to embrace aging in oak barrels, and to build a reputation for Rioja wines abroad. The winery has stayed in the family since its founding, and today is arguably Rioja’s most famous producer, both for their wines and for the futuristic Frank Gehry-designed hotel on the property.
Marqués de Riscal makes classic Riojas like the popular Reserva and the age-worthy Gran Reserva alongside more modern wines, the most notable of which is Baron de Chirel, a powerful Reserva with a large percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The presence of Cabernet in the wines dates back to the founding of the winery and remains a unique trait of the house. Marqués de Riscal has maintained and extended the legacy of its founder and remains a quintessential Rioja producer.
Muga
Storied Haro winery which practices traditional winemaking to make classic Riojas and exciting modern reds
Muga is newer to Haro’s Station Quarter than its neighbors, but you would never know it from their winery building or many of their wines. Classic reds made from Rioja blends ferment and age in barrels of all sizes made by Muga’s in-house cooperage. Muga’s red wines are loved by wine connoisseurs–from Crianza to Selección Especial to Prado Enea Gran Reserva. This family-owned winery differs from its neighbors at Tondonia and La Rioja Alta by offering two modern-style reds, Torre Muga and Aro, that critics rate among the best wines in all of Rioja. These wines are extremely concentrated and powerful, with a strong influence of French oak and the potential to age spectacularly. Muga also makes two white Riojas and two pale Garnacha-based rosés.
New Style Rioja Wineries
Artadi
The producer that put new Riojas on the map with award-winning single-plot Tempranillos
Artadi began as a small cooperative winemaking project in 1985 focused on the local market for young reds. Juan Carlos López de Lacalle bought the cooperative and began adding extraordinary single-plot wines to the range with the help of then-winemaker Benjamín Romeo, legendary for his work at Artadi and later Contador. Together de Lacalle and Romeo turned Artadi into an elite producer of powerful modern Riojas.
Today Artadi makes superb reds from small plots of old vines based on de Lacalle’s vision and decades of experience with their vines. Wines like El Carretil and El Pisón are sure to come up in any discussion of Spain’s greatest wines. Artadi left the Rioja D.O. in 2015 to produce their wines without the rules of the DOCa Rioja.
Contador
The winery of Benjamín Romeo, Artadi’s former winemaker, making exquisite small-production reds and whites, including legendary red Contador, arguably Rioja’s most acclaimed wine
Benjamin Romeo had already made a name for himself at Artadi when he took over his father’s vineyards in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. He began making wine in one of San Vicente´s traditional cave cellars, naming his first wine after it: La Cueva del Contador. He followed this up with Contador, which only a few years after its first vintage received consecutive perfect scores from Robert Parker, firmly establishing Romeo’s place as a Rioja legend. Contador has continued to advance, adding a great white wine and special bottlings to the lineup. The top Collección wines are difficult to source; consider yourself lucky if you can find a bottle. The original wine cave is still used to store some wines, but today the winemaking takes place at a stunning new gravity-fed winery outside of San Vicente.
Contino
The boutique estate of legendary CVNE
The Rioja château of Contino, owned by Riojan wine company CVNE, produces elegant wines on their 62-hectare property located in the Rioja Alavesa. Contino single-vineyard wines are made from the grapes that surround the old manor house. The perfect combination of soils, Atlantic-Mediterranean climate and careful handling in the cellar have made Contino, more than 30 years after the first vintage, a reference point for fine Rioja wine both in and outside Spain.
Contino’s most prized wine must be Viña del Olivo. The wine is made from a plot surrounding a 700 year old olive tree whose roots extend between those of the vines. The wine is made from a blend of Tempranillo and Graciano grapes.
Finca Allende
An important ground-breaker of the new Rioja, making hyper-local reds and whites that are among Rioja’s most sought-after.
Miguel Ángel de Gregorio is the brains behind Finca Allende. In 1995, he set out on his own in the village of Briones to make fresher Riojas by focusing on distinct plots and soils. French oak, north-facing plots, and old vines yield wines with a clear Atlantic influence. Finca Allende’s single-plot reds are age-worthy giants of new Rioja sourced from carefully chosen old vines. Unlike many newer producers drawn to Tempranillo, Finca Allende also makes two premium whites.
Remírez de Ganuza
Powerful new-style Riojas with long aging
This elite Rioja winery represents the balance of tradition and modernity. Founder Fernando Remírez de Ganuza acquired some of the best and oldest vineyards in Rioja Alavesa thanks to his work as a vineyard broker. Remírez de Ganuza burst onto the wine scene with a Reserva, and later a Gran Reserva, with modern concentration and new French oak balanced by technical perfection and a commitment to the Riojan tradition of long aging. The wines are made in a new building in the tiny village of Samaniego built so carefully from local stone that it looks like it has been there forever. In addition to the Reserva and Gran Reserva, the winery makes some of the best white wines in Rioja, including a rare white Gran Reserva, multiple impeccable red Reservas, and Trasnocho, an incredibly aromatic and concentrated wine that is a benchmark for “new-style” Rioja reds.
Roda
Modern winery in Haro with a small range of reds that helped establish new Rioja on the world stage.
Roda lies next to the classic traditional wineries of Haro, but this is a new project making exquisite Riojas that garner consistent acclaim around the world. The winery was founded in the 1980s to make single-estate wines rather than the classic Riojan blends. The intention behind the project remains to make long-lived wines. French oak and years of bottle aging before release mean that opening a bottle of Roda is always exceptional. The wines are smooth yet powerful and complex, examples of a modern orientation for Rioja wines. Of particular note are Roda I, the top Reserva of the house with incredible fruit and character, and Cirsión, a unique wine made from grapes selected from within vineyards, resulting in a concentrated refined wine. Given the grapes used, Cirsión ages for under a year in oak (a short time for Riojan wines) but is one of the Rioja’s finest wines. Don’t miss the new Roda I White, the winery’s first white Rioja.
Sierra Cantabria
Expert producers of pure Tempranillo reds from single plots with the concentration to age for many years
The Egurens have been growers in Rioja for generations, and many in the Spanish wine world use their name as shorthand for Sierra Cantabria and its range of world-class wines. Like Artadi, the winery began producing young wine for local consumption, slowly expanding into premium reds under the expert leadership of Marcos Eguren, considered one of the greatest enologists in Rioja.
The family’s winery holdings are extensive, including the original family winery Señorío de San Vicente, premium project Viñedos de Páganos, and even top producer Teso La Monja in nearby DO Toro wine region. Among the Riojas of the Sierra Cantabria group, you’ll find classic styles like the Gran Reserva as well as powerful modern wines, particularly among the top wines. Sierra Cantabria is most famous for its line of top single-plot reds made from pure Tempranillo vineyards near the Sierra Cantabria mountains. Long aging in French oak and top quality grapes give these wines seemingly unlimited concentration for years and decades of aging. Wines like El Bosque and Mágico are among the most mythic (and expensive) in all of Spain.