RIOJA WINES

Since we are living in Andorra, we are drinking more Spanish wines. Here, in the shops we have much more choice of all kind of Spanish wines and we have a lovely neighbour that teachs us more about Spanish wines. This month while riding with our bicycles from Andorra to Santiago de Compostelle we rode through the Rioja. We even visited one of the vineries near Logrono, see previous postings.

Rioja wines are found in four different categories:

Young Wines:Wines in their first or second year, which maintain their initial freshness and fruitiness.

Crianza Wines: Wines which are at least in their third year, which have spent at least one year in barrel and few month in the bottle.

Reserva Wines: Select wines are from the best vintages which, given their excellent characteristics, have been aged for three years, with at least one year in barrels.

Gran Reserva Wines: Wines selected from exceptional vintages, which have spent at least two years in barrels followed by a further three years in the bottle.