Gita al Vino Rioja — Haro, Laguardia e le Cantine de La Rioja
The Rioja wine region (the 'La Rioja' — the most famous wine region in Spain, the wine region that produces the Tempranillo-based red wines that are the most internationally recognized Spanish wines) is only 90 km south of Bilbao, making the Rioja wine country the most accessible day trip from Bilbao: Haro (the 'capital of Rioja wine', 90 km south of Bilbao, the town with the highest concentration of historic wine bodegas ('bodegas históricas') in Spain) and Laguardia (the medieval walled town of the Rioja Alavesa, 100 km south of Bilbao, the wine town perched on the hilltop above the Ebro River valley with the panoramic views of the Sierra de Cantabria).
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Haro — The Capital of Rioja Wine
Haro's Barrio de la Estación clusters Spain's most historic bodegas around the 1880s railway station — CVNE, La Rioja Alta, Muga, and López de Heredia all opened here because of rail access to the French market.
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López de Heredia — Cathedral of Traditional Rioja
The López de Heredia bodega (founded 1877), designed with a cobweb-covered barrel cellar and Zaha Hadid-designed visitor pavilion, produces Viña Tondonia Reserva and Gran Reserva aged 6-8 years — the most austere and complex Rioja.
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Batalla del Vino — The Haro Wine Battle
On June 29th (San Pedro's Day), 5,000 wine-soaked participants hike to the Riscos de Bilibio cliff at dawn and drench each other with red Rioja from squirt guns, buckets, and bota bags — the most joyfully absurd festival in Spain.
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Laguardia — Medieval Fortified Wine Town
Laguardia is Rioja Alavesa's most beautiful hill town — a walled medieval settlement above the vineyards housing underground cellars ('calados') beneath every house, accessible via trapdoors in kitchen floors.
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Marqués de Riscal Hotel — Frank Gehry in the Vineyard
Frank Gehry's 2006 Marqués de Riscal Hotel in Elciego is a Guggenheim-in-miniature — a titanium canopy in gold (Rioja wine), silver (vine nets), and pink (rosé) unfurling over the historic 19th-century bodega.
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Logroño — Calle Laurel Pintxos & Rioja Capital
Logroño's Calle Laurel and Calle San Juan are the Rioja capital's bar streets — packed nightly with locals eating pintxos washed down with house Rioja at €1/glass, the most affordable serious wine experience in Spain.