I posted a similar collection of Rioja photos this time last year, if you need more red & gold in your life

On the whole the images are interesting, but I feel they got the music BADLY wrong. I also think they got the balance of images slightly off by showing just a little too much old sandstone buildings and limestone cliffs. Of course these dominate the landscape and make it great to visit, but I the overall impression, especially with the music, is that this is some sort of South American or “wild west” landscape, with old dusty towns, vast expanses of vine-growing plains and jagged, imposing mountains.

In fact, it is an easily travelled, gentle and culturally rich landscape with lots of modern facilities balanced with historical towns that are very much still alive.

Come and visit and see what you think

Check out some of his photos from that night. Calle Laurel is Logroño’s tapas quarter – a growing warren of streets that serve tapas, wine and beer and are a great place to hang out with friends.

Next week I will also post some of his other photos of Bilbao, Laguardia, Logroño and Dinastia Vivanco from the trip

Not your "usual" bunch of Tempranillo grapes

Let’s get one thing straight from the start, it has nothing to do with White Zinfandel. That is a white wine made from red grapes and often in a fruity style.

Tempranillo Blanco, or White Tempranillo, is a relatively ‘new’ grape. It is the result of a natural mutation of the more common ‘red’ Tempranillo, and was discovered on a vine in a vineyard in Murillo de Rio Leza in 1988 by the owner, Jesús Galilea Esteban. DNA analysis proved that this really was tempranillo, but that a natural ‘albinism’ had affected the genes relating to the skin colour that resulted in a yellow/green skin pigmentation instead of the usual blue/purple.

You can read a few more details on the Wikipedia page, ungenerously listed under the title “Tempranillo White Mutant”

Rioja only allows a small number of “official” grapes to be used for its wines, but as this grape was effectively “born” in Rioja, they could hardly not allow it. However, it took a few years of testing by the official Rioja regulatory bodies first. They took the cutting, grew the plant, used this to take more cuttings and so on, until they had a small number of vines from which to produce grapes and test the resulting wine.

The initial results were positive, so a limited number of producers, including Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco, were allowed limit plantings of the vines as “experimental” varieties. This too was successful and finally, in 2007, Tempranillo Blanco was approved as a minority variety in white wine blends.

Of course wineries need to grow the grapes first before they can make the wines, and it takes around 3 years to mature a young vine enough to produce good grapes. However, the pioneers of this production have now started to see the benefit of the early investment and so in 2010 and 2011 some Tempranillo Blanco will start to appear in bottles of Rioja white wines, although it is still planted in tiny quantities exclusively in Rioja.

According to Dinastia Vivanco:

Tempranillo Blanco wines offer intense fruity aromas, with banana, green apple, citrus and floral characters.

Whilst Tom Perry, of Inside Rioja, tasted one of the very first versions of this wine which I think was aged in acacia wood barrels for a period and reported:

The wine was surprisingly tasty:  straw yellow color, a nose that combined citrus, butter and dried apricots which reminded me a little of viognier if it weren’t for the citrus.  It had a medium mouthfeel, and tasted  citrusy with apricots along with a little black licorice.

I look forward to seeing what producers do with it and to tasting as many as I can.

Image by Ryan Opaz via Flickr

Every winery and wine family have a story to tell, but few get the chance to tell it to a wide audience through the medium of film, and in particular with the artistic expression of a documentary film maker and artist such as Zev Robinson.

Zev, originally from the UK & Canada, comes from a Fine Art background, and it shows in his work. However, it seems he has found the medium of film documentaries to be a great way to capture the histories and the personalities behind the wine stories he is witnessing while currently living in Spain.

Zev has already succesfully released his labour of love about a little known grape, La Bobal, and has continued to train his camera on the wine culture of both Spain and Portugal ever since.

One of these subjects was the Vivanco family from Rioja where he spent over a year recording the first-hand accounts of three generations of the family who started out as local grape growers and have become one of the most influential families in the region. This is about their passion for wine culture, and Rioja in particular. It is about their winery, Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco, but it is also about their Museum of Wine Culture, and the Dinastia Vivanco Foundation. It is a very personal account about how this came about, in their own words, but very much through the documentary-maker’s eyes.

Zev has described in detail how his film came about on his own site, and I recommend reading it:

“Of all the many remarkable stories and interviews for which I am very grateful to have shared, that of Pedro Vivanco has to rank as the most incredible and unique.” Zev Robinson

The result is “Dinastia Vivanco: Giving Back to Wine What Wine has Given Us” which will see its first full premiere in London on March 17th 2011 at the Roxy Bar & Screen on Borough High Street. (see below for the preview, and click on the link to go to the Facebook Event page).

There are still a few £10 tickets for this premiere as well as a guest list of wine, film and London bloggers and media.

The premiere will be a chance to try some of the Dinastia Vivanco wines during the reception before the film, but also in an exclusive tasting after the screening, where we can also hear your views on the documentary.

For more information, and to book tickets, visit the Roxy Bar & Screen site or contact me at robert@thirstforrioja.co.uk about getting on the guest list.

I’ve been conducting tastings of Dinastia Vivanco wines for 7 years, and in all that time, whenever we had a full dinner to match our wines to, I had to apologise when we got to the dessert as “Dinastia Vivanco don’t make sweet wines“.

Dried out grapes on the vine in January

I was very surprised to hear, therefore, not only that Rafael Vivanco WILL be making an experimental quantity of a sweet wine, but that there is an ancient local tradition of these ‘raisined wines’ in Rioja. To be fair, it is a largely forgotten tradition, but it is well-known enough that the Rioja DOCa should be accepting these wines as ‘Rioja’.

Below is the press release that went out today which you can read on PR Web too, but you can get in touch with me, or even come to Bibendum‘s Annual Tasting in London today (January 26th, 2011) to speak to Rafael if you are in town.

Vivanco and the January Vintage in Rioja

Wine Culture has always been the thread that strings together developments at Dinastia Vivanco. On this occasion, Rafael Vivanco, winemaker at Dinastia Vivanco, is proposing to rediscover an ancient, deep-rooted Rioja tradition now sadly forgotten; the sweet wines known locally as “Vinos Supurados” or “Raisined Wines”.

The winery harvested the grapes for the Raisined Wine in Briones on Wednesday 19^th January 2011. These grapes were the Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo grapes from the El Cantillo vineyard that surrounds the winery in Briones. One of Rafael Vivanco’s experimental projects, this research project is driven by his passion to recover and promote the diversity and richness of Rioja’s winemaking heritage. This will be the second vintage of this wine as a tiny quantity was made in 2009 to provide technical experience and parameters for future vintages.

The Rioja “Raisined Wine” tradition is part of an ancient, local grape growers’ custom of storing grapes at home to eat, dried, until Christmas. They usually selected the most mature fruit and loose bunches (often Garnacha) that would be desiccated after a few months – hence the translation as “Raisined”, or even “Shrivelled” and “Rotten”. At Christmas the remaining bunches would be pressed and fermented in demijohns or other receptacles. The result, once fermentation had stopped after a few months, was a wine with very high residual sugar. This wine, sweet but fresh thanks to the remaining acidity, was used both as a dessert wine and medicinally, for its ‘restorative’ properties.

The Dinastia Vivanco grapes used for this vinification of Raisined Wine have remained on the vine in search of the benefits of noble rot (botrytis). As the agent of some of the world’s most prestigious wines, such as Sauternes, this noble rot, encouraged by the early morning vineyard mists rising from the nearby River Ebro, will add complexity and longevity to the resulting wine. Rafael Vivanco has experience of making these unique wines from his own winemaking education in Bordeaux in 1999.

The Autumn colours were marvellous, although I was probably a week or two too late for the most vivid reds (here starting to turn brown), but still amazing, I hope you agree:

Hotel Viura

If you are familiar with Rioja, you will know that the region is best known for its red wines made from Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. You might even know that its most important white grapes are Viura and Malvasia, with a tiny bit of Garnacha and Maturana Blanca. 

If you had to pick just one grape to represent Rioja, what would it be? Well, 9 out of 10 would probably choose Tempranillo, so it was a bit of a shock that Rioja’s latest tourism “jewel” was named after the main white variety, Viura, instead. 

Now, I’m not a ‘proper’ travel blogger. I rarely review specific destinations, hotels or restaurants, but I am interested in the things that make the beautiful Rioja region a great tourism destination. I do, however, still get requests from friends and followers on twitter for advice on making the most of their trip to Rioja. 

I realise that most people visiting Rioja have a great deal of competition for their limited travel time and budgets. If I can convince travellers to choose Rioja, and I really do recommend it, this may be their one chance, so somehow they’ve got to get a full experience of Rioja in only 2 or 3 days. The pressure is on! 

Panorama Villabuena de Alava

Well, I have always had lots of ideas of wineries to visit, restaurants, scenic drives and viewpoints, and even non-wine destinations. However, Rioja has always been held back from attracting more higher-end tourist looking for a luxury experience because most hotels, with the notable exception of the expensive “City of Wine“, were more serviceable than attractions in their own right. 

So, I was very keen to see if the arrival of Hotel Viura would change that. I was not disappointed! 

The hotel is an amazing, modern building set at the foot of a lovely, traditional village called Villabuena de Alava, home to wineries such as Viña Izadi and Luis Cañas, but in sharp contrast to it. The wilfully shambolic lines, boxes of colourful concrete and glass, placed seemingly at random by a playful giant, are a refreshing and still welcoming sight. I particularly liked the fact that the wall of glass above the main entrance reflects the traditional village buildings, bringing them “into” this new arrival, tying the two together. I can see why the Mayor pushed for this to be built. And I can see how the developers, designhouses, are right to be getting a lot of positive coverage. 

The hotel itself is probably best described as minimalist, almost austere, luxury. Polished concrete, chicken wire screens on the stairwell, chalked drawings on darkly lit walls in the corridors and moody lighting. 

The rooms are open and airy. Tall ceilings and enormous beds, with the elegant bathroom integrated into the room rather than separated from it. They also have large flat screens, blueray players, and free wifi (what luxury for social media types like me). The deluxe rooms and suites also have outdoor space to enjoy the cool evenings and fresh morning air. 

The hotel also boasts a large restaurant (with what I am assured are VERY well attached barrels over the diners’ heads) and an amazing, naturally cool and humid wine cellar just off the side. The cellar also boasts a “secret passage” that apparently was used to connect this cellar, and its treasures, with the local church that collected the “tithes” from the local populace. Needless to say, the treasures are very different today, but incredibly, this wine cellar is not just stocked with Rioja wines, but also international wines (I believe that the sommelier, Jose Gonzalez Godoy, might have a penchant for ice-wine!). 

So why “the future of Rioja” title above? 

If Rioja is to continue building the brand around the world, not only at the luxury end but in the rest of the market, consumers need to understand more than grape blends and ageing criteria. A regional wine brand is also about culture, and the best way to get more people to understand that is by getting them visiting the region and experiencing it, creating brand ambassadors around the world, whether they are wine Press, travel bloggers, food lovers or wine consumers. Rioja has invested a lot in making the wineries more welcoming and attractive, the food has always been good, but is becoming more creative, and the infrastructure of roads, stations and airports are also being developed. 

But none of this means very much if there is nowhere to stay. 

The accommodation alternatives in the area NEED to improve, and Hotel Viura is a great step forward in this respect. For many of today’s travellers, while we still exist in an era of relatively easy and cheap air travel, weekend get-aways are linked with pampering, affordable luxury and unique experiences. 

So, if you are looking for a place to travel, you want a bit of luxury and you want to be near lots of wonderful places to experience, yet in the quiet countryside, I highly recommend you check out Hotel Viura (and I’m not alone in saying this). 

Here are some of my photos of the hotel and the environs:
 

For full disclosure, I’d like to point out that my 1-night accommodation was free of charge thanks to Hotel Viura and Mango PR 

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A perfect view of Rioja wine country

You don’t really need an excuse to visit, but ours was our 18^th wedding anniversary.  Fly down to Bilbao, get on the road and within an hour you leave the pine forests behind and you look out on the hectares of vineyards of Rioja Alta. With the mountains running down on one side to the river Ebro on the other the A124 road is a series of photo opportunities, bodegas begging to be visited and well signposted paths waiting for hikers.

Our first stop was Haro. This town hosts a wine festival at the end of June, however we enjoyed just wandering the streets looking at the exquisite architecture and the storks nesting on buildings. To relax even further, what better than watching the world go by from one of the many bars selling delightful tapas all washed down with a glass of Rioja?

With taking it easy and relaxation our main priority we headed for the Wine and Oil Spa in Laguardia. After having a fantastic hot stones massage we did a circuit of the spa (€34 2 for 1 currently available). This includes hot and cold therapies that leave you so relaxed you feel as though you just may float. Afterwards take some time to explore the tiny lanes of the old town at the top of the hill before finding a place to eat in the many bars and restaurants.

As you will discover some of the main producers have spent a great deal of money creating stunning buildings. Dinastia Vivanco has a huge museum that explores wine through the ages. Outside they have hundreds of varieties of vines – we never realized there were so many and it really makes you appreciate the fine art of wine making.  Marques de Riscal, one of the most historic producers in Rioja, has a Frank Gehry (of Guggenheim design fame) building that incorporates an expensive hotel and winery.  Take the tour and visit the “temple” deep in the bowels of the estate where they have wines going back over 100 years before returning to the modern plant that produces 5 million bottles of wine per annum.

This is one of the lasting impressions of Rioja. They respect tradition but have put a modern innovative twist on it so that both old and new sit next to each other in perfect harmony. This is encapsulated by the Hotel Viura. The hotel looks as though it has landed in the tiny sand stone village that it occupies from another world. We loved the minimalist rooms that feature polished concrete floors, wonderful bathrooms and views of the municipal pool. Yes I know it sounds odd but when we visited the only visitors to the green coloured pool were swallows that dived and whirled above it as the sun gently dropped behind the hill.

After a couple of days you realize that you need much longer, however our flight was getting closer so we returned to Bilbao with an overnight in the Silken Gran Hotel Domine. This is a great hotel right opposite the Guggenheim and Jeff Koons giant flower Yorkshire Terrier.

Bilbao is still largely a building site around the museum with lots of building work and changes to public walkways. Transforming itself from dock to smart and sassy world city is running at a furious pace but the Tapas (known as Pintxos) bars full of locals are still one of its main assets.

The museum has certainly given the city a huge boost and is a must-visit if you like modern art.  Currently Anish Kapoor has an exhibition spanning his work from the 80’s through today. The building really compliments his work especially with the 76 polished metallic balls that makes up “Tall Tree and the Eye” which stands glinting in the sunlight outside.  Permanent work includes Richard Serra’s’ stunning work “A Matter of Time” which fills the 300mtr long main gallery.

We will no doubt be back to Rioja with the family at some point to explore the Dinosaur prints, explore Logroño and enjoy hiking through the countryside. We would highly recommend Rioja, … but keep it to yourself.

Simon Ghent – Follow him at @SimonG_1

[Robert's note: Simon's guest post was prompted by the fact that we met through Twitter and then face to face at The Wine Gang event. When Simon was looking for suggestions on places to visit for his trip I had a few ideas, and I hope this passionate and enthusistic response will encourage others to explore, just as they did. Thanks Simon!]

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Hotel Viura

La Rioja is a wonderful destination for travellers. As well as the wineries themselves, there are beautiful towns such as Haro, Laguardia and San Vicente, there are great food discoveries in places like Logroño and Ezcarray, there are even amazing discoveries to be had of Dinosaur tracks (real ones) in the south of the region.

One of the few things that La Rioja did not really offer, until now, were more boutique accommodation options. There are plenty of “casas rurales” for groups, or decent hotels and even a parador or two, but for some reason these were not all that exciting.

This started to change with the opening of the Hotel & Spa at Marques de Riscal a few years ago, but it only offered 30 rooms or so, and pretty pricey ones at that! If La Rioja was to attract more of the high end tourists heading to Bilbao, Santander and San Sebastian for their gastronomic wonders, then it has to do better.

And now they have.

In a short time, two boutique hotels have opened their doors. I have not been to either, but plan on doing so in the near future (purely for research, of course). Both are in the environs of Laguardia in Rioja Alavesa (technically Basque country and not La Rioja itself). If you have been to either, do let me know your thoughts, or if you have tried others like these.

Hotel Viura (Villabuena de Álava): http://www.hotelviura.com/ (picture of modern architecture above)

Hospederia de los Parajes (Laguardia): http://www.hospederiadelosparajes.com/