R
ioja is one of the planet���s oldest
and most respected wine regions.
Yet the time-honored ways of
making wine are being questioned,
altered and sometimes ignored.
Geographically, Rioja, about the size
of Delaware, is located in the north
of Spain. At Rioja���s northernmost
point sits the first of its three subregions, Rioja Alta, followed by
Rioja Alavesa, and then the most
southern and most eastern Rioja
Baja. The region is a valley, with
mountains that keep out northern
cold and while the warmth of the
Mediterranean flows up unimpeded
from the south while the Ebro River
undulates southward into the sea
through these Edenic conditions.
Like many of the European wine
growing territories, good Rioja exists
at the very edge of the growing zone.
A kilometer can be the difference
between exquisite wine and wine
from grapes that never fully came
into their own. The combination
of temperature variability, physical
characteristics of the landscape
HYLAND
