How Rioja’s New Regulations Have Led to Better Wine

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Winemaker Telmo Rodríguez, the founder of Bodega Lanzaga in Rioja, believed Spain had erred it its ways—to the detriment of its wine. In a quest to create a cohesive character when the Rioja appellation gained official recognition 100 years ago, sub-appellations were not included. So although village wines had long been a part of the region’s identity, they became deemphasized, which Rodríguez believes downplayed Rioja’s diverse terroir. “Rioja made a tremendous mistake in simplifying its personality,” he says. So in 2015, Rodríguez was the architect of the Terroir Manifesto that argued for a new way. Signed by 150 winemakers and members of the wine trade, the cri de coeur called for Spain’s wine regions to recognize a classification system that took the quality of individual villages and vineyard sites into account—like that of Burgundy’s. Doing this, they argued, would result in better wine. “The Spanish wine appellation system has proved effective in protecting geographical names and origin, but it has been oblivious to soil differentiation and levels of quality. Efforts have been aimed at turning our vineyards into the world’s biggest, not the best,” exclaimed the manifesto.

For Rodríguez, the argument was about pushing Rioja forward, while still appreciating past. “For many centuries, Rioja was based on the idea of village wines. Every important wine village was full of underground cellars, where the cosecheros [harvesters or growers] were producing distinctive wines,” he says. “Today, what we and other young producers are doing is going back to the idea of a complex Rioja full of different and unique tastes.” The proclamation’s appeal gained traction, and in the subsequent decade, new regulations have taken hold that put more emphasis on Rioja’s terroir. And as we’ve tasted our way through one of the waves of wines launched in the wake of the regulations, we can attest to those manifesto signatories being right: Rioja wines are better than ever.

The first raft of changes allowing for terroir to shine through took effect in 2017. The introduction of Vino de Zona let winemakers call out larger subregions: Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta, and Rioja Oriental. The Viñedo Singular classification made its debut, too. Unlike single-vineyard wines in the United States or elsewhere, Viñedo Singular does not just refer to a physical place; the term translates as “unique vineyard,” meaning the winery must prove to the Consejo Regulador de la Rioja, the regional wine authority, that its vineyard is capable of producing a special wine worthy of the designation, and that the vineyard itself has notable and distinct qualities. And Vino de Municipio was also introduced—a classification that was further updated in 2024 and its name changed to Vino de Pueblo. The latter category means that in addition to determining whether they prefer the Crianza, Reserva, or Gran Reserva style, wine lovers can now figure out which of Rioja’s 144 villages their favorite wine comes from. And while the previously named Vino de Municipio wines had to have been grown and made within the same village, the update to the Vino de Pueblo regulations allows for grapes grown in or near one town to be fermented, aged, and bottled in another.

The latter designation update has been a boon to Bodega Bideona, which got around the prior set of rules by employing inventive monikers that read like clever personalized license plates to communicate the name of the village the grapes were grown in. Villabuena was shortened to V1BN4, Laguardia became L4GD4, and the label on the bottle from Samienego reads S4MG0. Calling the regulation that stipulated the winery had to be in the same village as the vineyard an “absurd limitation” and “nonsensical requirement,” managing director Andreas Kubach MW tells Robb Report that the winery will continue to use these code-like trademarked names. At Bideona, the inclusion of the village name is about much more than clever marketing. “Our goal is to reflect the remarkable differences between the wine villages of Rioja Alavesa, traditionally well understood by local winegrowers, but largely lost in the 20th century during the industrialization of modern Rioja wine, which placed more emphasis on blending and cellar techniques than on the expression of origin,” Kubach says. With 282 distinct vineyard plots with an average size of three-quarters of an acre planted between 60 and 100 years ago, Bideona was founded to “contribute decisively to a new generation of Rioja wines, wines that express origin more than method of production,” he says.

Rioja is already the most-recognized Spanish wine region in the global market, and although it’s possible consumers may be confused by the addition of the subzone, village, or vineyard name, the word “Rioja” remains prominent on bottles. “Talking about these places not only avoids confusion, but actually enriches the story of Rioja, giving the public a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what the region represents and keeping Rioja vibrant and relevant as one of the best wine regions in the world,” says Raquel Pérez Cuevas, co-owner of Quierón and the president of Rioja’s regulatory council. The first female president in the region’s 100-year history, Pérez Cuevas is “convinced that certain villages will gradually gain recognition and prestige among consumers.” Her sister Leticia Pérez Cuevas, co-owner and viticulture director of Quierón, says that labeling their wines with the name of their village, Quel, “highlights the singularity of our soil, our environment, climate, and our traditional way of taking care of the vineyards.”

The Viñedo Singular designation takes the idea of terroir a step further than village wines. Viñedos El Pacto Valdechuecas comes from a vineyard in Cárdenas that was planted between 1912 and 1918. While Rioja is almost always associated with Tempranillo, winery owner Richi Arambarri Pérez tells Robb Report that the Valdechuecas vineyard is planted with 85 percent Garnacha mixed in with Tempranillo, Viura, Malvasía, Graciano, Mazuelo, and even some unidentified historic varieties. At 1,952 to 2,034 feet above sea level, a cool microclimate preserves acidity and aromatic intensity, and ferrous clay soils with underlying conglomerate rock provide excellent drainage and a distinctive mineral profile. The planting style, too, promotes deep root growth and balanced yields. “This combination of age, biodiversity, altitude, and soil composition gives the vineyard a rare heritage value and a truly singular expression, making it fully eligible for the Viñedo Singular designation,” Arambarri Pérez says.

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Raquel Pérez Cuevas explains that initiatives are underway to educate wine professionals and consumers alike so that they may understand and appreciate the new categories. At Houston’s Post Oak Hotel, master sommelier Keith Goldston is excited about the wines and the opportunity to introduce them to his clients. With selections like Muriel Reserva Vino de Elciego (Vino de Pueblo) and Luis Alegre Parcela No. 5 (Viñedo Singular) on his list, he says, “With the newer Rioja classifications, we can now lean a little more into a ‘sense of place,’ which is one of the many things that makes wine such an incredible beverage.”

As Kubach points out, “We are at a crucial and fascinating moment in Rioja, as the region finally begins to articulate its diversity, offering not only excellent wines of style, but also wines of place, capable of expressing its landscapes, villages, and vineyards in the glass.” We couldn’t have put it better or more succinctly ourselves.

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