Spain's most prestigious wine region, Rioja, is best known for its red wines, matured to a distinctive vanilla mellowness. Some of the most prestigious bodegas were founded by émigrés from Bordeaux, and Rioja reds are similar to claret.
Rioja also produces good white and rosé wines. Navarra reds, whites and especially rosés have improved dramatically, helped by a government research programme. The Basque region produces a tiny amount of the prickly, tart txacoli (chacolí). Larger quantities of a similar wine are made further west in Galicia, whose best wines are full bodied whites.
The wine regions of Northern Spain are widely dispersed. Cradled between the Pyrenees and the Atlantic are the important regions of Rioja and Navarra. Rioja is divided into the sub-regions of Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja, separated by the Río Ebro.
The river also cuts through the wine region of Navarra. To the north are some of the vineyards of the Basque Country: the minuscule Txacoli de Guetaria region. In the far west lie the four wine regions of wet, rugged Galicia: Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, Valdeorras, and Ribeira Sacra.
Rioja and Navarra are influenced by both Mediterranean and Atlantic weather systems. The hillier, northwestern parts receive some Atlantic rain while the hot Ebro plain has a Mediterranean climate. The Basque region and Galicia are both cool, Atlantic regions with high rainfall. Soils everywhere are stony and poor, except in the Ebro plain.
The great red grape of Rioja and Navarra is Tempranillo. In Rioja it is blended with smaller quantities of Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, while in Navarra Cabernet Sauvignon is permitted and blends excitingly with Tempranillo.
Garnacha, also important in Navarra, is used for the excellent rosados (rosés). Whites of Navarra and Rioja are made mainly from the Viura grape. Galicia has many local varieties, of which the most important are Albariño, Loureira and Treixadura, which is now taking over from the inferior Palomino.
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