Rioja

Regarding car rental: you need to get an International Driving Permit, which can be obtained from the AAA in the US. It is used together with your US license, and basically acts as its translation.

Other than that... You'll find many of the same franchises as in the US, plus a few that are more specific to Europe. Renting via a well-known broker such as Auto Europe (rather than directly though the car rental company) is a good idea, because it typically gives you the best price, and you have access to an English-speaking line in case of problems. However, if you have some sort of status / points with, say, Avis or Hertz, you might as well rent directly from them in Spain.

As for Rioja: it is the only region of Spain where I have never stayed, so I cannot help much! Although LaGuardia, technically not in Rioja but right next to it, is a very attractive place to be and would make a good base.

I’m sure one of the posters who lives in La Rioja will respond. One could easily spend a week or more in that area, but it depends on what your interests are. We rent cars at Madrid airport and drive around. Other than an needing International Driving Permit that you get for $20 at AAA, renting a car is the same as renting one anyplace else. We reserve the rental car online. The closer it gets to your travel date the more expensive cars get.

There are a number of wineries in Haro and near Laguardia, but there are plenty of wineries elsewhere. In that area there are also castles, monasteries, hiking areas, old bridges, hermitages, old architecture, etc. For tapas, Calle de Laurel in Logroño has been suggested. As I stated, it just depends on where you’re interests lie. If you are going to visit wineries, I’d stay in a town where the wineries are. Span’s intoxication limit is lower than in the states, so whoever does the driving shouldn’t be drinking. The link is to wineries in La Rioja from the La Rioja tourism page. If you play with the filters you can you can Limit the results.

Hi
First off, in my opinion late September/early October is the best time to visit La Rioja.

This year the harvest festival, San Mateos, will be, in some form, from the 16th to the 25th in Logroño.

For general ideas about visiting La Rioja visit the RiojaTourism page. A good place to start when planning to visit wineries is the DOC.
Some ideas are:

-Go to the Dinastia Vivancos winery and museum (it is a “must” see), and have lunch there or in San Vicente. After lunch visit the wineries in San Vicente or Abalos. You can also visit the castle in San Vicente.

-one day in Laguardia. There are many wineries there to visit. Make sure that you visit the Portico in Santa Maria.

I would avoid Haro. Many of the famous Riojas are there, but if you have a car try to go to some of the smaller wineries that don't have much distribution in the states.

I would also recommend Lecea, they have a very interesting tour, and Ijalba in Logroño, they are doing a lot of different things like trying to bring back some of the older disused grape varieties.

And because there is more than wine, I would take a day to visit the Abby in Cañas, the Monastery of San Millan (a UNESCO site) and the Monastery of Santa Maria el Real in Najera, with it's pantheon of Navarran Kings.

Sorry I can't speak to car rentals. If you came after San Mateos, I would suggest staying in Logroño. You can take a bus from Madrid, they are very frequent. In Logroño you have the Ijalba winery and the Bodegas Franco Espanolas in the city. In the evenings you have Calle del Laurel and Calle San Juan. There is good regional bus service, and you can get a bus to Laguardia, Haro, Santo Domingo, and Najera, and many small towns with wineries like San Vicente.

I hope this helps you,

One thing is La Rioja autonomous community, that has wineries basically in its northern and eastern area, and another thing is the Rioja wine region. The Rioja wine region is divided into three: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental. Rioja Alta is in La Rioja, with main town Haro; Rioja Alavesa is next to it and its main towns are Labastida and Laguardia, and it´s in the Basque Country; and Rioja Oriental is in La Rioja and Navarre. I´d choose either Haro or Laguardia to stay, as they are close to many wineries (even on foot) and Laguardia is a beautiful walled town.

In Rioja Alta (Haro) I like Lecea, Gómez Cruzado. Tritium and Tondonia, in Rioja Alavesa Ostatu, Alútiz in Samaniego, Casa Primicia, Javier Sampedro in Laguardia, , Torre de Oña in Páganos, Luis Cañas in Villabuena,...there are over 600 wineries (I tend to like those family owned and with centuries-old underground cellars, as Lecea, Primicia and Alútiz).