For wine- and food-lovers, it's the ultimate vacation spot, just an hour drive southeast of Bilbao (the capital of the Basque region) and an hour southwest of San Sebastían (one of the best food cities in Europe).
A true hidden gem, Rioja is located in north-central Spain — along the Ebro River — and boasts 600-plus wineries spread across the subzones of Rioja Alta (42 percent of DOCa wine), Rioja Alavesa (21 percent of DOCa wine), and Rioja Baja (37 percent of DOCa wine). "While Rioja has a variety of options, I personally loved the city of Logroño. It was a quaint city that offered so much in terms of entertainment and dining," said Daven Wardynski, the executive chef of Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort in Fernandina Beach, FL, who recently visited the area.
Just walk the tapas bars on Calle del Laurel and see simplicity at its best. For example, champiñones! "These little button mushrooms were griddled with garlic butter and shrimp, served on a stacked pintxo skewer, atop a piece of bread. The freshness of the region was supreme. Whatever produce was in season was sitting raw on top of the counter in the pintxo bars for you to see and order. It was amazing to see people move from bar to bar only ordering the one item that pintxo bar was known for," said Wardynski. "I was fortunate enough to visit Bodegas Conde de los Andes and meet with local wine maker Javier Murua. His exuberance for his craft was refreshing and the wines were special. Being in Rioja, we obviously tasted some reds — and, in particular, Tempranillo — but, for me, the surprise of the entire trip to Rioja was his whites.
"Additionally, the maze of underground cellars ('calados') leaves you pondering how the wines were produced hundreds of years ago — some collections even dating back to the late 1800s! The history in this area of the world is truly unparalleled. There is a portion of the underground cellars that were covered with layers of penicillin that help protect bottles for tens or even hundreds of years. This experience with Javier was simply stunning, to say the least," said Wardynski.
