We are planning to visit the Rioja region for 2-3 days in September. Laguardia is a possible home base, but we have not decided. We plan to do some wine tasting and visit the towns and perhaps walk a short distance on the Camino. Home base should be relatively central to the wineries and have some hotel and restaurants that we can choose from. What are recommendations for home base and any wineries that we should not miss???
Posted by
NC
693 posts
Highly recommend a tasting at Bodegas Ostatu, as well as a tour followed by wine lunch across the road at Bodegas Baigorri. We also loved staying in beautiful Laguardia. September is the perfect time to visit. Be sure to go to a local wine festival if there is one while you are there — great fun and a chance to try the offerings of multiple wineries. The kind folks at Ostatu can help you with the schedule. Enjoy!
Posted by
la rioja
736 posts
Hi Nick, as mentioned, in September there is the wine harvest fiesta, or San Mateos. The fiestas are usually the 20th to the 27th. While they are in Logroño, there are some events throughout La Rioja. Fiestas or no, it is harvest time, so you may find some wineries are really busy with that.
Laguardia is good for a night or two. It is not on the Camino but if you want to do some hiking, there are lots of trails in the area around Laguardia. Most go through the vineyards, there are some dolmens in the area.
One thing is that Laguardia will probably be full of people, as it is a popular tourist stop. A bit west is Briones and San Vicente de la Sonsierra with are small pretty town. The Vivanco museum and winery is right there, and San Vicente has some hiking trails in the area.
A small clarification, La Rioja is the autonomous community. Logroño, Haro, Briones, San Vicente are all in La Rioja. Laguardia and Labastida are in Alava, part of the Basque Country autonomous community. Rioja D.O.C. is the wine making area, it includes La Rioja, parts of Alava and Navarra. So while the harvest festival is in Logroño, La Rioja, the harvest is in all Rioja DOC.