My job allowed me to travel to Northern Spain for a week in March to the town of

Vitoria. It is located just north of the fine wine region of Rioja, where most of the

great reds are grown using the Tampranillo and Granacha verities of grapes. I

arrived there in late afternoon and was greeted by a very fun and interesting guy

and a couple of his co-workers who insisted that we go out for meal at 8:45PM,

which is really late for this old “poop” to eat anything. We drove across the city

to a favorite spot of his and were seated at table in the back and not speaking

any Spanish, I let him order for the 4 of us. They asked if I had ever had the

opportunity to enjoy the local wine, rioja? Not ever having been introduced to it, I

told him no, but I was really looking forward to trying it. He asked me to pick one

from the wine list and I really smiled and pushed it back to him with the admission

that I had no clue as to what I was looking at. He graciously accepted the duty

and ordered a magnum that was from a local bodega which did not export wine

out of the country. (Oh Great! I’ll never get to taste anything like this again!)

The meal of calamari, prawns and Spanish thin cut cured ham was wonderful but

the wine was magnificent! I had never, ever had anything even close to it. They

could tell by my expressions that I was instantly in love with it. My host spoke

absolutely flawless English so the Rioja wine region stories began to fly fast and

furious. I learned where the region was, the types of grapes, the cheap prices and

all about the “bodegas” or wineries that were located only a stone’s-throw from

where we were dining. It was a great evening and I was totally hooked on rioja.

Over the next two evenings, we went pub crawling at the “tapas” bars, eating

wonderful inexpensive hot Spanish food and each pub had cheap glasses of rioja.

It was all fantastic. On the final day together, after all the meetings, I was taken

for a restaurant that we had actually eaten at the day before. I thought it a

bit funny that in a city as big as Vitoria, we would return to the same place for

lunch. We were taken in and then I was lead down three flights of stone steps

in this old building to the owner’s “private wine cellar”. Oh my God! What was

this place? There were probably 500 different cells, each with 10-20 bottles of the

finest Rioja wine in them in the country. Again when asked which one I wanted

to try, I politely declined and stated that I wanted to rely on their experience and

knowledge of this fantastic wine and they should pick it. They chose 2 different

bottles from the endless racks of wine and we were brought all sorts of “starters”

of fish, vegetables and crackers to have with the wine, which was absolutely

amazing. I thought that was great and a good way to have a light lunch, but I was

not finished! The lights came on in the next room off the cellar and we moved into

a completely lavishly set table and were set down to a 5 course meal. The food

was out of this world and the wine just kept flowing. It was an amazing “once in a

lifetime” experience.

When I returned to the UK I was skeptical about being able to find a good “Rioja”

or if I could afford it if I did find it. Soooo! Back to the little pocket wine guide by

Ned Halley. Guess what? I looked under the section of “Spain” and there were

several Rioja’s listed. Off to the store I went and picked up a couple for only £4 -

£7. I opened the first one at home for my wife and I and it was simply wonderful.

Another new wine adventure! We have since found 2-3 vintages that we really

enjoy for very cheap prices. The wine rack is filling up!

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