When Spain buyer Harriet and I flew into Bilbao in May, I thought I knew Rioja reasonably well – I'd been there before, I’m pretty partial to a white Rioja on a Friday night and I’d pored over numerous articles to swot up. After all, Rioja’s one of the world's most famous wine regions – who doesn’t know about its rolling vineyards, tempranillo grape, oak barrels and long-aged reds? It’s easy, right?
Five days, a few hundred miles and countless vineyard visits later, I realised how little I really knew. It’s a cliché, but when it comes to wine, it really is a case of the more you know, the more you realise there is to learn.
What struck me wasn't the wine – excellent though it was, even for my untrained palate. It was the people and the diversity. Growers, viticulturists and winemakers, all grappling with the same question: how do you make great wine in a world that's changing faster than ever? What fascinated me was that everyone seemed to have a different answer.
Thinking about 2050, not 2026
The trip began in Haro with Roberto Frías at La Rioja Alta. Roberto had recently been named Rioja Viticulturist of the Year in Tim Atkin MW’s annual Rioja Report, so I expected the conversation to focus on the current growing season. Instead, he kept bringing us back to the future. His biggest concern wasn't what was happening now. It was what Rioja might look like in ten or twenty years' time.
With the help of a masterful translator, he explained that harvest dates have already moved forward significantly during his career – currently around three weeks earlier than they once were. That might not sound dramatic, but it is. It changes how grapes ripen and, ultimately, the flavour, freshness and style of the wines Rioja has built its reputation on. The issue isn’t simply that temperatures are rising; it’s the speed of change. Many farmers spend their lives responding to the season in front of them. Roberto is now thinking about vineyards that may not reach their full potential until long after today's wild weather has got even wilder. It was an interesting way to begin the trip because the importance of that kind of longer-term thinking became a recurring theme wherever we went.
The grape that built Rioja
A couple of days later we found ourselves sitting with Pedro Balda at López de Haro. If Roberto was thinking about the future of Rioja, Pedro was questioning one of its foundations. Tempranillo has defined Rioja for generations. It is the grape most of us associate with the region. Yet Pedro spoke openly about the challenges it faces in a hotter, drier climate.
What surprised us wasn't that the weather came up. Every producer mentioned it (even more than us Brits). What surprised us was the persistent talk around the need to switch grape varieties – to garnacha and Graciano, in particular – and fast. Again and again we heard the same message: tempranillo is central to Rioja wine, but other varieties may prove better suited to the reality of conditions ahead. It felt slightly strange hearing Rioja question its most famous, premium grape.
It's all about water, stupid
Every single conversation eventually came back to one thing: water.
Too little. Too much in one go. Falling at the wrong time. Running off the land instead of soaking into it. Arriving as vine-destroying hail in summer instead of steady winter rain.
Every producer had a different way of talking about it, but almost all roads led back to the same challenge. Whether it was healthier soils, cover crops, new grape varieties, higher-altitude vineyards or regenerative farming practices, many of the approaches being taken were really attempts to solve one problem: how do you make the most of every drop of water?
It was really noticeable how often water sat behind conversations that appeared to be about something else entirely. Yield? Water. Quality? Water. Soil health? Water. Climate change? Water. Changing grape varieties? Water. In a region where the weather is becoming less predictable, managing water increasingly feels like the issue that ties everything else together.
The winemaker who talked more about soil than wine
One afternoon we wound our way into the hills above Rioja Alavesa to visit Sandra Bravo at Sierra de Toloño. Her vineyards sit high above much of the region, with spectacular views stretching across the landscape. Sandra's wines were delicious (possibly my favourite), but what left the biggest impression was how little she talked about winemaking.
Instead, she talked about soil. She showed us vineyards she had spent years restoring and described neighbouring soils that were bare, lifeless and hard as concrete. The conversation wasn't about machinery, oak or cellar techniques; it was about roots, microorganisms and bringing life back to the ground beneath our feet.
That happened repeatedly throughout the trip. Many of the most interesting producers believe that great wine starts with a vineyard buzzing with life.
Medieval monks and modern science
If Sandra was the philosopher of the trip, Xabi from Zorzal was probably its storyteller. We met him in Navarra towards the end of the week and he showed us where he’s been planting new vineyards. It was crazy hot, yet Xabi was bursting with energy and excitement to show us.
I expected a discussion about him selecting his sites through satellite mapping or soil surveys. Instead, he started talking about ancient history. Xabi had spent time digging through historical records to work out where monks from the local monastery had planted vineyards hundreds of years ago. His reasoning was wonderfully simple: if generations of growers repeatedly chose the same sites, perhaps they knew something worth paying attention to.
What I loved was that he wasn't rejecting science. Before buying land, he still dug soil pits, worked with specialists and analysed the site in detail. It was old wisdom and modern science working together, and that combination felt like a recurring theme in Rioja's most exciting vineyards and wineries.
The visit that surprised us most
The biggest surprise of the week was Cosme Palacio. We arrived not quite knowing what to expect, and found ourselves immediately discussing soil biology, regenerative viticulture and artificial intelligence.
Jackson and Gonzalo walked us through a series of vineyard plots that act almost like living laboratories. Rather than treating each vineyard the same, they are constantly asking questions: How healthy is the soil? How can it feed the vine with more nutrients? How can it store more water? What happens if we change this practice and stick with it for ten years? We weren't really talking about vineyards at all. We were talking about decision-making today for long-term survival – not managing year-to-year, like many farmers around the world. Every conversation came back to the same question: what choices can they make today that will leave them in a better position ten years from now?
They showed us a tool they have developed using artificial intelligence and vineyard data. The technology helps them predict, in a matter of seconds, how different farming practices will impact a specific plot of vines not just this year, but in 10 years. What struck me most was that they didn’t create the tool just for them. A huge amount of their work is focused on helping the growers they buy from. They sit down with growers, map their vineyards, explore different scenarios and help them understand how today's decisions might shape the future of their land. Many wineries talk about sustainability. Cosme Palacio felt different. What I saw was a business trying to help an entire community of growers navigate an increasingly uncertain future.
It was probably the visit Harriet and I talked about most afterwards.
Growing to become smaller
One final story stayed with me on the drive back towards Bilbao. At Zorzal, Xabi used a phrase that neither Harriet nor I have stopped repeating since: 'We are growing to become smaller.'
At first it sounded like a contradiction. What he meant was that the winery had deliberately reduced production over the years, focusing on fewer wines from better sites, with a clearer sense of place. The more we travelled around Rioja, the more that idea surfaced in different forms. Producers talked about quality over quantity, about understanding individual vineyards rather than treating the region as one homogeneous landscape, and about making wines that reflect a specific place rather than a house style. It felt like a quiet but important shift taking place across parts of Rioja.
A conversation about bottle capsules
Not every story was about the future. At Muga, we found ourselves discussing bottle capsules. Although they no longer serve much practical purpose, they still use them because they like how they present a wine. A premium wine should look the part.
A few days later we were talking to producers who barely mentioned packaging at all. Their conversations revolved around soils, biodiversity and vineyards. Neither view was right or wrong, particularly when remaining profitable is becoming harder and harder. But the contrast captured something bigger, something that I kept seeing across Rioja: a region balancing tradition and change.
What I'll remember
When people hear about a buying trip, they usually ask about the best wine. There were certainly some memorable bottles. Rioja's whites were a revelation.
But what I'll remember most are the people: Roberto worrying about Rioja in 2050; Pedro questioning the future of tempranillo; Sandra getting excited about soil rather than the cellar; Xabi taking inspiration from medieval monks; and Jackson and Gonzalo building tools to help growers prepare for a changing world.
After a week on the road with Harriet, and no small amount of tapas, one thing became clear. Rioja is no longer just a story about oak barrels and tempranillo. It's a region full of thoughtful, curious people trying to work out how to make exceptional wine in the face of challenges their predecessors never had to confront. And that makes it a far more fascinating place than I had realised.
>> Read more about the changing face of Rioja by Harriet Kininmonth
Wines from Rioja
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Jesús Acha Senda de Haro Blanco, Rioja 2018
Contino Graciano, Rioja 2020
CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja 2018
Javier San Pedro Otra Historia, Laguardia Rioja 2024
López de Haro Classica Gran Reserva Blanco, Rioja 2014
López de Haro Gran Reserva Rioja 2016
El Pacto Blanco, Rioja 2024
El Pacto Vinedo Singulare Valdechuecas, Rioja 2019
Muga Flor de Muga Blanco, Rioja 2022
Contino Blanco, Rioja 2022
