Editor’s Note: For those of you unfamiliar with Adrian Murcia, he’s our Rioja expert with one foot planted firmly on both sides of the Atlantic. Living in New York as a sommelier, writer and educator, he’s dedicated his blog, Blame It on Rioja, to journal his experiences tasting Rioja wines, visiting the region, and generally fawning over Spanish food (who can blame him!). So what I’ve provided below is Adrian’s perception on how he, as a New Yorker, believes Americans approach Rioja wine!

In the 1970s, wines from Rioja made key inroads into American markets as bodegas like Marqués de Cáceres stepped up exports to the U.S., but let’s face it: we were a Gallo/Paul Masson/Blue Nun nation back then. That started to change in the 1980s, the so-called Chardonnay and Brie decade. I came of age at the end of that decade and began to discover wines from all over the world at a time when the entire country seemed to doing more or less the same thing. With a name almost as recognizable as that of Chianti, Rioja was a beneficiary of that change. Affordability, perceived value, and reliability—together these were Rioja’s stock-in-trade.

By the 1990s, as U.S. tastes were growing more sophisticated, per capita wine consumption began its steep ascent (from 1.96 gallons per person in 1990 to an estimated 3.02 gallons in 2007, according to one study). Similarly, the number, quality, and variety of wine options on the U.S. market exploded. Fuelled by a strong economy, an influx of EU regional funds, and a growing export market, the Spanish wine industry kicked into high gear, combining a rich endowment of native grape varieties with technological improvements and an abundance of climates …

Having just walked into our hotel five minutes ago as the clock struck 9:30pm, I feel like a decade has slipped through our fingers. Over the past three days traveling throughout Rioja, we’ve seen one of the oldest and most traditional; one of the newest and most technologically advanced; one of the smallest yet productive; one of the most extravagant and luxurious; one of the most the quirky and inexplicable; and one of the most intriguing wineries in Rioja. And it’s not to say there haven’t been similarities from one bodega to the next, but the diversity we’ve experienced has been outstanding in everything from their philosophy of winemaking to their definition of a Rioja wine.

First, allow me to give you the general breakdown of what we’ve experienced since Monday morning. We began our week with a short, but informative, tour of Bodegas Tobia, producing wines from the humble setting of their garage. This was followed by lovely visit to Haro, where we ogled the wind swept sandstone buildings, ate a simple lunch of hamburger stuffed red peppers, patatas riojanas, white asparagus in a white sauce and lamb chops with roasted potatoes and red peppers, and discussed Ryan’s family tree, which passed through this area five centuries ago. As the fog rolled in come early evening, we arrived to Lopez de Heredia, where we took a two hour tour with the public relations manager, Lidia Zanzar, followed by an additional two hour wine tasting with one of the many family heirs to the bodega, Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia. Content and on information-overload, we ended the evening in our hotel room eating a simple salad and sandwich from some crazy German chain called, …

We’ve successfully made it to Rioja without a scratch. Having left around midday on Sunday, we meandored through the vast open landscapes of western Cataluña, Aragon and Navarra, finally arriving to the 120 million year old dinosaur tracks emerging from the muddy soils just outside of Arnedo in Rioja Baja around 5:30pm. Mind you, it took us three tries until we finally found the tracks, because every time we saw signpost with a large green dinosaur on it, we logically assumed we had reached the endpoint of our journey, but no. Like many of our experiences in Spain, one can’t expect signs that forewarn or share extensive detail. What you will find, however, are many signs that allude to what you want, but won’t give your end destination until the very last moment when you find yourself swerving off the road to a screeching halt. Yet, I have to admit, despite the Disney like display of the 40 foot high Brontosaurus or Brachiosaurus dinosaurs sitting fiercely in the Igea track site, the tracks themselves were absolutely incredible. Albeit a little smaller than I imagined, they were very well worth our efforts and a journey I would highly suggest for you as well.

Finally, pulling into Logroño around 8:00pm, we parked our car in the very back corner of the basement of the Hotel Murrieta behind a cement pillar and next to a SUV. This, my friends, was truly an act of patience and persistence, because if you turned your car slightly in any one direction, you were at risk of plowing into a large, very damaging, object. Our advice, in addition to getting fantastic gas mileage and saving the environment, a tiny little Opal will give you much more leeway in European carparks than a large Chrysler will ever …

Just to preface this article, we decided a few weeks ago to dedicate a large chunk of our trip to Rioja to figuring out what the difference is between modern versus traditional Riojan wines. Now, I could easily say that we both have a relatively good understanding, but I think it’s important to differentiate the perspective of the consumer from that of the winemaker. Hence, we sent out an email to several Rioja wineries last week asking their winemakers how they would personally respond to said question. What I’ve included below are the responses from both Bodegas La Rioja Alta and Bodegas Martinez Laorden, and you’ll have plenty more in the weeks to come by both video and written; but for now, you can at least gain a little taste as to what we’re experiencing on our journeys here!

Question: How do you differentiate between a traditional verses a modern wine of Rioja and what do you feel is both positive and negative about each style?

First off, I’m not sure if I necessarily understand the difference between traditional Rioja versus modern Rioja winemaking, unless we say that traditional Rioja hasn’t evolved over time. I believe that wine has suffered from constant evolution, adapting to the current tastes of the consumer. What we have always tried to avoid are the fads with an expiration date. I’d like to believe that we represent classic wines, where elegance, subtlety and complexity of aromas and flavors are the keys to a great wine: wines that are balanced, pleasant and allow for a long persistent finish.

The new trends, which appeared to be influenced by wines from California, Australia, etc, are wines, at least in their early years, were seeking quality in power, strength and big structure. …

Editor’s Note: As we have been exploring Rioja throughout the month, we realized that this legendary region has not only infused itself throughout Spain, but throughout the world as a whole. From east to west, and north to south, people around the world have been boasting about the classic wines of Rioja…or have they? Our friend Dave Worthington has accepted our challenge to bring you his experience of Rioja from down under.

I had some friends out from the UK at Christmas and served them up a wine from Rioja one night with dinner. The look on their faces was like I’d just run over their cat. What they knew as Rioja was this cheap, daggy wine from the supermarket back home that costs 5 pounds. Here in Australia, we’ve been fairly lucky with Rioja, as we don’t have that history. In fact, only the more adventurous wine geek had ever heard of it ten years ago. You see, we’re a long, slow boat ride from Spain, imported wines are highly taxed and we have a booming local wine industry that serves up the local equivalent of the 5 quid (or US $10) bottle very nicely. So, the little Rioja wine we saw before about 2000 was not exactly inspiring and had more than likely been sitting in the corner of some hot bottleshop for 10 years, completely buggared by the heat by the time you bought it. The owner having a quiet chuckle when a punter buys a bottle. Of course, the Spanish immigrants always had some good stuff stashed away, but you had to know where to look and know the secret handshake to get in the door.

Thankfully, that’s changed for the better. Cool little bars have …