DOCa Rioja Álava – La Rioja

A privileged region for quality viticulture RIOJA ALTA

Privileged region for the cultivation of the vine and the elaboration of high quality wines with unique personality and great aptitude for aging, the production area of the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin is located in the North of Spain, on both banks of the Ebro river. The geographical accidents have contributed to forming a perfectly delimited and differentiated natural region from those that surround it, although administratively the 63,593 hectares of vineyards currently protected by the Denomination are distributed in the territory of the three riverside provinces of the upper course of the Ebro:

La Rioja (43,885 has.), Álava (12,934 has.) And Navarra (6,774 has.). A hundred kilometers away separate Haro, the westernmost town, from Alfaro, the easternmost, with about 40 kilometers the maximum width of the valley occupied by vineyards that, in successive stepped terraces, reach a maximum altitude of about 700 m.

With few modifications in the last thirty years, the Denomination Regulation lists the 144 specific municipal terms (118 in La Rioja, 18 in Álava and 8 in Navarra) in which are located "the lands that the Regulatory Council considers suitable for the production of grapes with the necessary quality ".

RIOJA ALAVESA

La Rioja Alavesa encompasses territories to the southeast of the Basque province of Álava and the enclaves of Sonsierra and Briñas in the autonomous community of La Rioja.

Its municipalities are full of history and wine. This is attested by its emblematic dolmens: that of Sotillo, that of San Martín and that of La Huesera in Laguardia. The one of the Shack of the Hechicera and the Encinal in Elvillar. The one of the Llanos in Kripan. The prehistoric towns of the Castros de Buradón between Labastida and Salinillas de Buradón (Sonsierra) and the protohistoric town of La Hoya in Laguardia.

Other towns that are no less historical and equally as vintners are Samaniego, which is the place-name of fabulista, Leza, Páganos, Villanueva de Álava, Baños del Ebro, Navaridas, Lapuebla de Labarca, Lanciego, Viñaspre, Yécora, Barriobusto, Labranza, Moreda de Álava, Oion , Assa and Laserna, all of them from Alava and San Felices in the Sonsierra enclave.

RIOJA THE EMPEROR OF THE DO

Its climate is classified as dry-subhumid, that is, Atlantic with Mediterranean influences. The annual average temperature oscillates between 12'6º and 13'2ºC and the rains vary between 400 and 600 mm. Most of its soil is clayey-calcareous.

Why is it called LA SIERRA DE CANTABRIA?

There is nothing strange about the fact that this mountain range is called Cantabria as the Autonomous Community of that name, since in both cases the origin has to be found in the Celtic peoples that every mountain that had rocks on its top, was baptized with the prefix cant- (stone). In a similar way, the mountain overlooking Labastida is known as Toloño, which, like the Galician mountain Teleno, has its origin in the Celtic god Tulonius.