Rioja is incredible. We had a great visit at Valdemar (they have a Washington outpost now, and are doing some cool stuff with unusual varieties - including maturana, graciano and Tempranillo blanc). Artadi was also incredible. We had lunch with Jorge Muga- incredible range and quality. The craziest night of my 2 weeks of tours and tasting was with some natural wine makers in a mountain hut in Rioja. If you would be interested to try some skin contact whites and learn about a new natural Rioja movement- I’ll connect you with a friend(American) who lives in Lagrono and is exporting some interesting wines.
Thank you for this info and I’ll certainly keep this in mind when we return to get a longer and more diverse stay after this trip. As it stands now, our time in Rioja is filled up and we have one more opening for a visit in the afternoon during our visit to Ribera del Douro which were still goaling for that to be with Vega Sicilia.