What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
Where it is
Rioja in Spain
- Latitude
- 41.9°–42.7° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 362 m to 624 m
- Production zone
- 368,468 ha
Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.
Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.
01 · What the law says
The rules
Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Rioja must meet.
Blend rules
Rioja white wines (dry and semi-dry)
- 100% white varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja rosé wines (dry and semi-dry)
- ≥ 25% red varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja white wines (semi-sweet and sweet)
- 100% white varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja rosé wines (semi-sweet and sweet)
- ≥ 25% red varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja red wines (dry and semi-dry)
- ≥ 95% red varieties · Main grape
- ≤ 5% white varieties (carbonic maceration) · Allowed
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja red wines Crianza
- ≥ 95% red varieties · Main grape
- ≤ 5% white varieties (carbonic maceration) · Allowed
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja red wines Reserva
- ≥ 95% red varieties · Main grape
- ≤ 5% white varieties (carbonic maceration) · Allowed
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja red wines Gran Reserva
- ≥ 95% red varieties · Main grape
- ≤ 5% white varieties (carbonic maceration) · Allowed
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja red wines Viñedo Singular
- ≥ 95% red varieties · Main grape
- ≤ 5% white varieties (carbonic maceration) · Allowed
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Rioja quality sparkling wines (white or rosé)
- ≥ 25% red varieties (rosé sparkling only) · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
14 varieties · Rioja quality sparkling wines (white or rosé)
Alarije, Albillo Mayor, Chardonnay, Garnacha Blanca, Graciano, Grenache, Macabeo, Maturana Blanca, Maturana Tinta, Mazuela, Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo, Tempranillo Blanco, Verdejo
In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine
2,850
Vines per hectare, minimum
Training
Systems allowed
gobelet and variants; double cordon; rod and thumb; single or unilateral cordon; double Guyot (listed white varieties and Tempranillo Blanco only)
Permitted, with limits
Irrigation
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 16.2 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,345 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 551 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 16.2 °C
- Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,345
- Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 363 mm
- Of 641 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 101 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 493 m; Vineyard point 2, 626 m; Vineyard point 3, 595 m; Vineyard point 4, 389 m; Vineyard point 5, 652 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.
Closest climates in the database
Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.
1. Prado de IracheVery similarCompared with Rioja: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. SaumurVery similarCompared with Rioja: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Coteaux de SaumurVery similarCompared with Rioja: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
03 · Year by year
35 vintages
Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.
Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 101 mm
2025
- Growing-season temp.
- Growing degree days
- Harvest rain
- Growing-season rain
- September nights
- Hot days and frosts
Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.
04 · Where the numbers come from
Sources
- A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Single document: Rioja (Official Journal C, C/2026/565, 29.1.2026; and the technical file 'Ares(2014)3947482' from the EU register) · European Union, Official Journal (C series) · EU law (Commission reuse policy)
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: Permitted varieties (section 8): Alarije – Malvasía Riojana, Albillo Mayor – Turruntés, Chardonnay, Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha Tinta, Graciano, Macabeo – Viura, Maturana Blanca, Mazuela – Mazuelo, Merenzao – Maturana Tinta, Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo, Tempranillo Blanco, Verdejo; red wines need 85 % red grapes (15 % white) when made from whole bunches. The document gives no minimum ageing periods for Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva; white and rosé Crianza need 10.5 % and Reserva, Gran Reserva and Viñedo Singular 11 % actual alcohol, white Viñedo Singular grapes are limited to 6,922 kg/ha and 44.99 hl/ha, and rosé yields follow the red and white grape-variety limits. Sweetness is not fixed per product (dry/semi-dry and semi-sweet/sweet are grouped); the grape natural-strength minimum for sparkling wine appears to be misprinted as 'still wines: 9 %'; sparkling wine has a maximum actual strength of 13 %, and Reserva and Gran Añada sparkling wines must be hand-harvested. Wines must be bottled at registered wineries authorised by the Regulatory Board; oak chips, barrel ageing claims before ageing ends and heat extraction of colour are prohibited; vine load is limited to 12 buds per vine (16 for the listed white varieties, 14 for Garnacha) and density to at most 10,000 vines/ha. The older Spanish technical file (Ares(2014)3947482) adds no ageing periods (it defers Crianza/Reserva/Gran Reserva to the pliego) and differs from values kept here: white grapes 10.5 % vol natural minimum, and minimum actual alcohol 10.5 % (white and rosé) and 11.5 % vol (red).
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.