Why Visit Rioja?
As a wine lover, visiting Rioja has been high up on my wine growing regions to visit for quite some time. Surprisingly, there is not a whole lot of information on traveling around the area independently, and even less so without a car – let alone as a vegan. Always up for a challenge (especially when rewards in the form of wine are waiting), my friend Nina and I recently ventured out to explore La Rioja for a few days.
We tied La Rioja into our trip of visiting the Basque Country of Spain, or País Vasco, the cities of Bilbao and San Sebastian in particular.
La Rioja grows mostly red grapes and among those, Tempranillo is the most common. Depending on how long the wine has aged in barrels, it is classified as joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva – the ageing time is reflected in the wine´s price and, usually, also its quality.
Vegan-Friendly Wineries in Logroño
Logroño might not be very high on your lists of Spanish towns to visit but I do believe it definitely deserves a visit, especially if you love wine!
Another benefit of Logroño is that it is very easily accessible by train and bus from many cities across Spain. Compared to Haro (a little later), it also offers way more food options! Plenty of hotels can be found here as well.
Before heading to Rioja, I came across this podcast episode of “Wine for Normal People” and was immediately drawn to visiting the Ontañón winery, so, straight upon arrival and having dropped our bags in one of the luggage lockers at the train/bus station (it is the same building), we hopped in a taxi which dropped us off just before their opening time (10 am – no judgement here!).
While we arrived without an appointment, we were greeted warmly by Jesus and his team, took our time to taste many of their wines and enjoy the sunshine through the tasting room. We also got to walk the beautiful fermentation hall as well as barrell room and more. Very important for me is that most of their wines are labelled vegan, delicious and affordable – what more can you ask for?!
Jesus also pointed out that there is a bus (number 10 I believe) that passes right behind the winery and takes you to the center of Logroño – it would not be a very far walk either but the winery is located in a more industrial part of town, which does, honestly, not make for the most scenic walk (the vineyards are not located here, but spread out across the area).
Can you find vegan food in Logroño?
So, upon arrival in the center, we headed straight to Calle Laurel, aka “tapas alley” – where you will find tapas bar next to tapas bar – most of which offer very different dishes or specialize in just one dish – papas/batatas bravas, Spain´s favorite way of serving potatoes apart from in a tortilla. Patatas bravas are served with a slightly spicy tomato sauce and usually mayonnaise as well. Order them “sin mayonesa, por favor” or “mayonesa al lado, por favor” (mayo on the side, please). More appropriate would be to use the word “aioli” instead since that is what is usually used – it can be accidentally vegan but more likely than not, mayo
Believe it or not, some are, with a little digging and customization, also quite vegan-friendly.
A standout is Bar Cid, which only serves oyster mushrooms with lots of garlic – either served alongside bread or on their own. Of course it also sells drinks.
As a base, we decided to spend the night in Haro and opted to stay in an apartment. We chose Limehome and it was just a 1 min walk from the Plaza de la Paz and about a 10 minute walk from the bus stop where we arrived (we took the bus down from Bilbao, which takes a good hour).
The apartment had everything we needed – do note, however, that you need to submit your passport through their website ahead of time and you will not be able to enter before it is time to check in (one of the main drawbacks to staying in apartments, especially in smaller cities which have no luggage storage/services, in my opinion).
So, we went to the wineries with our luggage in tow – thankfully, some wineries can easily be reached on foot within 10 minutes of the main square. The benefit of having your luggage with you is that you immediately place purchased bottles in your suitcase!
Wineries´ hours were quite limited in late March – the local tourist info, also located on the square, provided an overview, which was very helpful.
We started at Tihom winery, which also turned out to be our favorite among the wineries of Haro. Our somm, Irene, was super friendly and explained the wines in her best English – together with my knowledge of Spanish, it all worked out great. I appreciate that Tihom listed that all their wines are clarified with egg whites.
We then headed to Muga, where we were barely served a glass of wine since they were about to close in 20 minutes´time. Their front yard would have been a nice place to sit if temperatures weren´t as cold as they were.
We then headed to La Rioja Alta, one of the more esteemed wineries of La Rioja. La Rioja Alta is also one of the three growing regions within La Rioja (the others are La Rioja Alaves and La Rioja Oriental/Baja).
