01
ES Spain
Rioja Alavesa
Hill towns, limestone soils and a compelling conversation between old and new.
- Grows
- Tempranillo · Garnacha · Viura
- Best window
- May · Sep
- Trip length
- 4–6 days
- Nearest airport
- RJL · 36 min
Travel thoughtfully · drink responsibly · 18+
R Red · 2 regions
Garnacha.
Grenache in French, Garnacha in Spanish, and the grape most transformed by where its roots have to go — which is why the two regions here read so differently.
— What changes between them
In Rioja Alavesa it is the supporting partner to Tempranillo on calcareous clay, at moderate altitude and moderate yields. In Priorat it is often the whole wine, on Palaeozoic slate so poor that mechanisation is impossible and yields are tiny. An hour and a half apart by road; not remotely the same drink.
The 2 regions
02
ES Spain
Priorat
Black slate, severe gradients and a small, hard-won region that repays the effort of getting there.
- Grows
- Garnacha · Cariñena
- Best window
- Apr — May · Sep — Oct
- Trip length
- 3–4 days
- Nearest airport
- REU · 48 min
Travelling for more than one
Several of these sit close enough to combine — see the fourteen-day routes, or put any two side by side with compare.