Change is in the air in Rioja. Not just among those who are questioning the regulatory body’s rules. You will meet an encouraging new generation of Rioja producers starting their own bodegas. In making my choices, I was asked to focus on crianza gran reserva and non-Tempranillo red wines, but it is worth pointing out that Rioja also has some exceptional whites. Hopefully some of these star white wines will make their presence felt at the 2016 Decanter World Wine Awards. In Rioja, all but a handful of the DOCa’s finest wines are comparatively inexpensive.There are oceans of cheap supermarket Rioja (I saw reservas on sale for £5.49 over Christmas), which suppress the prices of the good stuff, at least for now. You don’t need to spend much more to trade up from something that’s simple, fruity and oaky to something that is complex, balanced and ageworthy. How much longer will this continue? Rioja, not before time, is seriously debating allowing producers to use the names of individual villages and vineyards on their labels – ludicrously, such a thing is forbidden at the moment.

If that happens, I think the best terroir-focused Riojas will start to attract the attention of wine collectors and investors. And we all know what happens then… The full list of 50 top Riojas from Sarah Jane Evans MW and Tim Atkin MW was publsihed in the March issue of Decanter. Subscribe to Decanter here. Always one of Rioja’s – indeed, Spain’s – best wines, this is from a 2.4ha vineyard in Laguardia, planted in 1945. It’s a superdense, richly textured wine with massive concentration, but it’s not forced or over-ripe. Intensely aromatic, with notes of liquorice and wild herbs, it beguiles your tastebuds with… The grapes for Aurus come from vines that are at least 60 years old, picked as late as 11 November in 2010. It’s a very cool, north-facing site and that’s reflected in the wine. Thick, dense and backward with a bloody note from ferrous red soils, some chalky acidity, serious,… ‘You can’t spit this,’ Benjamín Romeo told me when I tasted it from barrel.

It wasn’t the finished blend, but after a gap in production in 2013, Contador is back with a swagger. Rosemary, violets and dense plum and blackberry fruit, ripe tannins and a fresh flourish. It’s a real surprise just how suddenly these terrifically aged wines have become so fashionable. This gran reserva is magisterial: a combination of power and lean elegance. best glass to serve wineForest-floor aromas, delicate and supple in the mouth and very long. 10 french wine regionsAnd look at the alcohol!best wine cities in italy An 18ha parcel close to the Sierra de Cantabria is the source of the Tempranillo here. best red wine with fruit

Rich, concentrated, aromatic yet also refreshing, it’s a ripe mountain wine, showing flavours of orange peel, mulberry, Asian spices, vanilla and tobacco. The tannins are ultra-fine, the finish very long. Grown on a 0.5ha parcel at 700m, this remarkable Garnacha, made from 60-year-old vines, is in short supply, but it’s worth tracking down one of the 400 bottles. best usa wine toursDense yet full of vigour, freshness and life, it’s spicy, refreshing and well balanced, with subtle oak and flavours of wild herbs,…buy cheap wine cooler Grown at the upper limits (600m-630m) for Tempranillo, this single vineyard of 25ha is situated just below the town of Laguardia on bony soils. It’s a very chalky, mineral wine that combines power with acidity. Complex, spicy and refreshing, with skilfully handled new oak and great ageing potential.

Even Abel Mendoza, one of Rioja’s best viticulturists, finds Graciano tricky to grow and vinify. This is certainly not short of gutsy tannins, with plum and blackcurrant fruit, plenty of oak and depth, and tangy, palate-cleansing acidity. Another wine to tuck away. The chalkiest of the Miguel family’s three single-vineyard sites, K4 is located at 660m in Avalos. It’s suitably fresh and perfumed, with lovely finesse and balance and a mineral note underpinning crunchy red fruit flavours and filigree tannins. After the 2010, this is the finest release yet from this no-expense-spared operation. Super-aromatic and dense, it’s a very ambitious wine aimed at the top end of the market. Made for the long haul, with a core of black fruits, bright acidity, stylish oak and ripe, integrated tannins.Spain has the largest surface area of vineyards in the world. It’s also the third largest wine producer on the planet which makes it harder to know which wineries to stop at when you visit Spain.

Since Spain is a country full of tradition, know-how and wine history it is difficult to narrow the list of most famous wineries down to just 10, but the ones selected have been chosen because they are great wineries with beautiful architecture, high-quality wines and a lively, entertaining enotourism industry. Wine lovers can discover where to go in Spain with our top 10 most famous Spanish wineries! 1. Marqués de Riscal –  El Ciego, Rioja Alavesa Marqués de Riscal is a must if you are travelling to Rioja Alavesa. Traditional Spanish elements are combined with innovative design to create an impressive architectural feat in the midst of the beautiful landscape. Created in 1858, Marqués de Riscal is a winery with original, fresh and elegant wines. Inside the aptly-named wine cellar, ‘City of Wine’, you can taste Spanish delicacies in their Michelin-starred restaurant, relax in the vinotherapy spa, and have great holidays in the luxury hotel designed by Canadian architect Frank O. Gehry.

For more information on Riojan wineries read our Top 10 Wineries in Rioja guide. 2. Dinastia Vivanco – Briones, La Rioja Located in Briones in La Rioja Alta, Vivanco is a functional winery which was built underground so as to keep as much the vineyard surface area as possible, to minimise the environmental impact and preserve the beautiful landscape of La Rioja. Inside the ‘Jardín de Baco’, you can find more than 200 different varieties of grapes, and if you want to be even more impressed, visit their famous museum which some regard to be the best wine museum in the world! Look at over 5000 wine publications, 3000 corkscrews and other fantastic exhibitions around the culture and history of wine from Spain. 3. Bodegas Protos – Peñafiel, Castilla y León In the heart of Ribera del Duero, at the foot of the mountain near the castle of Peñafiel, you can find Bodegas Protos. They claim to be the first Spanish winery to reflect an attitude of innovation and high-quality.

Discover here the beauty found when tradition and modernity combine to bring wine tourists a special experience during the visit. After walking around caves under the mountain where the wine is aging inside barrels, you will be fascinated upon entering the building created by Italian architect Richard Rogers. 4. Marqués de Murrieta – Logroño, La Rioja Marqués de Murrieta is one of the wineries connected to Spanish history. The founder, Don Luciano Murrieta and García- Lemoine, produced (and exported) the first fine wine from Rioja in 1852. After his trip to Bordeaux he was inspired by the concept of French château to create the Ygay Castle around the 300 acres of vineyards of their property, recently reopened after several years closed for rehabilitation. 5. Bodegas López de Heredia ‘Viña Tondonia’ – Haro, La Rioja López de Heredia is one of the first cellars created in Rioja and the oldest of Haro, a city where you can find other really great wineries.

Founded in 1877 the beauty of Viña Tondonia is in the balance of the traditional and historical installations with the contemporary style of the main building. The main building was designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid and inside of her creation you can find the wine shop and a wine tasting room. Viña Tondonia is probably the winery with more experience in producing old white wines, one of the only two wineries that currently maintain their own cooperage, and the only one that only uses handcrafted barrels built on their property. 6. Bodegas Freixenet – Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Catalunya Freixenet is a winery dating back to 1861 and known worldwide thanks to their sparkling wines. The building is specially designed for enotourism. When you visit you’ll get to enjoy a video about their history before meeting a guide who will explain the elaborate process of producing Cava. There is also a train which allows you to tour the winery. The thing Freixenet is most famous for is their famous ‘Bubbles of Freixenet’ - beautiful girls who wear golden dresses representative of the Cava.

7. Bodegas Codorniu – Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Catalunya Since 1551, Codorniu is one of the two most renowned sparkling wines cellars of Spain (the other one is Freixenet). Also located in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, but separated from the centre of the city, you can find a beautiful building designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and declared a historic-artistic monument in 1976. 8. Ramón Bilbao – Haro, La Rioja Founded in 1924 by Ramón Bilbao, and chosen as one of the best wineries of Spain at the International Wine & Spirit Competition, the company, located in Haro, has focused on innovation without forgetting their tradition roots and respecting the culture and history of wine. 9. Bodegas Torres – Vilafranca del Penedès. Torres is the most admired wine brand in the world according to Drinks International. Located in Vilafranca del Penedès but with many other wineries worldwide of their property, Torres is a familiar business that has been growing generation by generation since 1870.

In their installations they offer a lot of activities related to enotourism and want to expand the culture of wine to all the wine lovers who visit them. The winery is very committed to the environment and have a claim: ‘The more we care for the earth, the better wine we get’. 10. Campo Viejo – Logroño, La Rioja Campo Viejo is a winery designed from the beginning to play a triple role that transcends the traditional activity of the wine sector. Firstly, it’s a large winemaking and aging winery, with innovative installations and a huge and beautiful wine barrel cellar, secondly a unique wine tourism destination, and thirdly a social centre capable of enhancing the image of the company, hosting various events. Created in 1959, it forms part of the Pernod Ricard Winemakers company. Find all of the above wineries on our map of Spain below. This article was written by Mavi Balabanian, a wine marketing expert and creator of Marketing Vinicola, a wine marketing external department for wineries and wine businesses.