When I first heard the name “La Rioja” I made the grand assumption that it derived from a geographic location. Why? Because if you’ve taken Spanish 101, you will immediately recognize the word rio in the name, meaning river, while oja can translate to “watch out!” or “look out for”. Hence, I assumed that name either meant “a dangerous river worthy of your caution” or “an incredibly beautiful river to look out for”. Although I felt pretty confident in my theory, I’ve already confessed that our knowledge of Rioja is relatively slim at this point. So, I donned my student cap and turned to John Radford’s book, The Wines of Rioja for a more expert opinion.

According to his book, the commonly held theory by wine writers and Rioja lovers alike is that La Rioja’s namesake is based on the River Oja, which feeds into the Tiron river, passes through Haro and eventually flows into the famous rio Ebro. Now although this doesn’t explain why the entire region is called La Rioja, it’s an undeniably practical theory.

However, as I continued reading through the Radford’s alternative theories behind La Rioja’s origins, suddenly, the popular namesake rio Oja had equally sound competitors. John lays out five possibilities, all interesting, and all worthy of our consideration. So compelling are some of these arguments that I thought it would be fun if we had a little vote. When you finish the article, please take a moment to share which theory you stand behind in the comment section, maybe because you simply like the theory or because you find it to be the most logical.

Proposed Theories by John Radford of the Epytomology of La Rioja

Bodegas Ijalba Ogga
Based on research conducted …