History of Rioja wine
Encyclopedia
Rioja (wine)
Rioja is a wine, with Denominación de Origen Calificada named after La Rioja, in Spain. Rioja is made from grapes grown not only in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, but also in parts of Navarre and the Basque province of Álava. Rioja is further subdivided into three zones: Rioja Alta, Rioja...
wine reflects a long and varied winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
tradition in the Spanish region of La Rioja, starting with the first Phoenician settlers in 11th century BC. As with many of Europe's most well known wine regions, the Ancient Romans founded many of the Rioja vineyards. Throughout the Middle Ages, pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
passed through the region and carried back with them the reputation of wines from the area. The phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
epidemic of the late 19th century was a major catalyst in the expansion and modernization of the Rioja wine industry, with the devastation the French wine
French wine
French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...
industry both opening up the French wine market and bringing an influx of French investment into the region. Today, together with Sherry
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
, Rioja is the most internationally-recognized of all Spanish wine
Spanish wine
Spanish wines are wines produced in the southwestern European country of Spain. Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over 2.9 million acres planted—making it the most widely planted wine producing nation but it is the third largest producer of wine in the world, the largest...
s.
Early history and Roman times
Alfaro, La Rioja
Alfaro is a town and municipality in La Rioja, northern Spain. Its population at January 2009 was of 9,883 inhabitants and has 194.23 km² extension...
. The Rioja region was conquered by the Ancient Romans in the early 2nd century BC and probably came under Roman rule through treaties with the local Celtiberian
Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group used the Celtic Celtiberian language.Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain...
and Vascon
Vascon
The Vascones were an ancient people who, at the arrival of the Romans, inhabited the region of present day Navarre, Lower La Rioja and north-western Aragon...
tribes. Vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s were established at settlements near modern-day Calahorra
Calahorra
Calahorra, , La Rioja, Spain is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as Calagurris.-Location:...
and Logroño
Logroño
Logroño is a city in northern Spain, on the Ebro River. It is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, formerly known as La Rioja Province.The population of Logroño in 2008 was 153,736 and a metropolitan population of nearly 197,000 inhabitants...
and bodega
Bodega
Bodega is a Spanish word that may refer to:* a winery, wine cellar or wine bar* a convenience store specializing in Hispanic groceriesPlaces:* Bodega, California, town in Sonoma County, California...
s soon sprang up in order to supply the Roman troops. Archaeological exploration has uncovered evidence of a local cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
from that period with the capacity to hold 75,000 liters of wine. Wine historian Roger Dion has theorized that when the Romans settled in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, some of the plant cuttings that they took with them may have originated in Rioja vineyards, in the form of an ancient vine Balisca, which may have been the ancestor of the Cabernet family, leading to the development of the classic varieties Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
, Cabernet franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
, Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
and Petit Verdot
Petit verdot
Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen, it is added in small amounts to add tannin, colour and flavour to the...
in the Médoc
Médoc
The Médoc is a region of France, well known as a wine growing region, located in the département of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. Its name comes from Medullicus, or "country of the Medulli", the local Celtic tribe...
wine region.
Middle Ages & Renaissance
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
route el Camino de Santiago took thousands of Christian pilgrims right through the heart of the Rioja throughout the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, just as it does today. Whereas many visitors sampled the local wine and the reputation of the region became widespread, not many samples of the wines left the area. Following the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, Rioja wine merchants began to look for outside markets for their wine. Looking north, some bodegas brought their wines to the trading ports of Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
and Santander
Santander, Cantabria
The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. Located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao, the city has a population of 183,446 .-History:...
where it became available to Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
wine merchants. This developing trade with its Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
neighbors served as an impetus for the bodegas to expand their wine production. As the region's reputation grew, the local authorities tried to implement safeguards to protect the quality and reputation of the wine. In 1560 the use of grapes from outside the Rioja region was prohibited and wine exported from the region had to transported in bota bag
Bota bag
A bota bag or wineskin is a traditional Spanish liquid receptacle. Typically, it is made of leather , and is used to carry wine, although any liquid will do.- Construction :...
s, branded with a seal to guarantee the authenticity of their contents.
18th & 19th century rebirth
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Manuel Quintano of nearby Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
traveled to Bordeaux to learn their winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
techniques. On his return, he introduced the use of Oak aging barrels to the Rioja bodegas, which dramatically improved the longevity of Rioja wines. This opened up their export potential, and markets soon developed in places as far-flung as Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Despite this success, the regional authorities dictated that the all Rioja wines, whether destined for foreign or domestic consumption, must be the same price, regardless of the added expense incurred by oak aging. This significant economic disadvantage caused the use of oak to fall out of favor for almost a century.
The Duke de la Victoria
Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara
Don Joaquín Baldomero Fernández-Espartero y Alvarez de Toro, 1st Prince of Vergara, 1st Duke of la Victoria, 1st Duke of Morella, 1st Count of Luchana, 1st Viscount of Banderas was a Spanish general and political figure...
owned a bodega in Logroño and spent considerable time in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
during a period of exile following the defeat of the Carlists. It was there that he and an aide, Colonel Luciano Murrieta, discussed ways in which to modernize the Rioja wine industry, with the aim of competing for the sizable British market. Murrieta was dispatched to Bordeaux to learn the latest advances in the Bordeaux wine
Bordeaux wine
A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...
industry, much like Quintano had been several decades before. One of the improvements Murrieta brought back was the utilization of large vats to crush and ferment
Fermentation (wine)
The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...
the grapes, in place of the outdoor stone lagos in which grapes were traditionally crushed by the feet of the vineyard workers. Murrieta also reintroduced the use of oak for aging.
Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of fungi in the order Erysiphales. It is one of the easier diseases to spot, as its symptoms are quite distinctive. Infected plants display white powdery spots on the...
began to ravage vineyards in nearby Galicia, opening up the market up for Rioja bodegas, which had been only slightly affected. The completion of a railway system linking Logroño to Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Irun
Irun
Irun is a town of the Bidasoa-Txingudi region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain...
coincided with the onset of the phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
epidemic in Europe. The French were the first and hardest hit by the louse, which created an immediate and insatiable demand for all the wine the Rioja could produce. Amidst devastation in the French wine
French wine
French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...
industry, dozens of négociant
Négociant
A négociant is the French term for a wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name....
and French winemakers, mostly from Bordeaux, traveled to the Rioja to set up wineries, where they could continue to produce wine – bringing with them extensive knowledge, techniques and experience. This ushered in a period of unprecedented growth and prosperity for the Rioja wine industry.
The subsequent boom in the Rioja wine industry lasted until phylloxera finally reached the region itself in the 1890s. By then the cure of grafting
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
American rootstock
Rootstock
A rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...
had been successfully employed in France and it was only a matter of time before the Spanish were able to replant their own vineyards with the new grafted vines. In the meantime, regional authorities stepped in to sharply curb all wine imports, so that the local wine supply would take priority. Laws were passed prohibiting the export of wines from any bodega producing less 750,000 liters of wine per annum.
Modern times
At the turn of the 20th century, Rioja had established itself as the most recognizable name for Spanish wine outside of Spain. However the effects of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
created trying times for the Rioja industry. Country-wide hunger resulted in government decrees stating that vineyards had to be torn up and replanted with wheat in order to feed the populace. It wasn't till the 1960s that many of these lands would be planted with vines once again. The 1970 vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
was a turning point for the Rioja wine industry, widely hailed as the "vintage of the century" and ranked by wine critics as one of the best of any region in the world. This success caused a surge in consumer interest in the wines, and with that an influx of foreign investment in the vineyards and bodegas of the Rioja.
In the 1980s, a steady stream of under-performing vintages and excessively high prices caused a significant drop in sales, while other Spanish wine regions
Spanish wine regions
The mainstream quality wine regions in Spain are referred to as Denominaciones de Origen and the wine they produce is regulated for quality according to specific laws....
like the Ribera del Duero
Ribera del Duero
Ribera del Duero is a Spanish Denominación de Origen located in the country's northern plateau and is one of eleven 'quality wine' regions within the autonomous community of Castile and León...
began to emerge, capturing more international attention and sales. In response, modern Rioja winemakers began experimenting with more international styles of wine, younger, more powerful and deeply-colored than the traditional Rioja. The heavy use of oak was restrained with the aim of releasing wines onto the market sooner, so that they could be enjoyed earlier. Sales began to improve and in 1991, Rioja was the first region to be awarded Denominación de Origen Calificada status, with which the Spanish recognised the Rioja as its premier wine region.