Like its wines, Spanish cuisine seems to perfectly encapsulate a national obsession with respecting the past while trying to reinvent it. The country is home to some of the most creative and compelling minds in modern gastronomy, from Ferran Adrià, who changed not only the Spanish but the global culinary landscape with his ground-breaking restaurant el Bulli, to the Roca brothers at El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, via Basque legends Juan Mari Arzak and Eneko Atxa. While France may be the cradle of classic cuisine, Spain is where people come to be excited and challenged by what they eat and remains among the most innovative and interesting countries for its food and its wines.
Those planning trips to Rioja won’t be disappointed on either front, as the region boasts an array of winery restaurants running the gamut from experimental to traditional. There are fine-dining venues as well as spots specialising in local, seasonal dishes that are often cooked over fire or roasted over vine shoots for added flavour. Rioja winery restaurants are a relatively recent phenomenon, and a trend spearheaded by Marqués de Riscal, which opened its ambitious hotel and City of Wine venue in 2006. It has no less than four restaurants on site catering to different moods and occasions. Other bodegas soon wanted in on the action and the Rioja region is now home to a thriving winery restaurant scene, allowing visitors the opportunity to dine among the vines in scenic settings.
True to Spanish form, Rioja winery restaurants are wildly different in nature. Some, like Martín Cendoya at Eguren Urgarte, proudly fly the flag for traditional Riojan cuisine and keep things simple serving the likes of lamb cutlets roasted over vine shoots. Others, like Riscal’s Restaurante Gastronómico, push the boundaries of Basque cuisine via daring dishes that marry unexpected ingredients like squid and toffee. Whether you’re in the mood for a fuss-free lunch in a pretty vineyard spot, or are seeking to challenge your taste buds with outlandish flavour combinations, our guide to best Rioja winery restaurants has it covered. Just remember to bring your appetite…
Eight top Rioja winery restaurants to visit
Restaurante Gastronómico Marques de Riscal
Elciego
Marqués de Riscal sets the bar high when it comes to top-end gastronomy in Rioja. Housed within Frank Gehry’s striking space – a symphony of silver and purple titanium folds – are a quartet of restaurants: an al fresco asador (grill); casual wine bar and bistro; Restaurant 1860 Tradición, which celebrates the best of Basque and Riojan cuisine; and the Michelin-starred Restaurante Gastronómico Marqués de Riscal. The latter is overseen by Rioja-born chef Francis Paniego, and is the jewel in the Riscal crown thanks to its contemporary twist on traditional flavours and cutting-edge dishes that pair unexpected ingredients – such as marinated duck with praline and mushrooms, and squid tartare with toffee.
Paniego, who also runs the two Michelin-starred El Portal de Echaurren in Ezcaray, works largely with local ingredients – including white grape Viura in his scarlet prawn head sauce – but takes inspiration from world cuisines. Both seven-course (€140) and ten-course (€165) tasting menus seek to encapsulate Rioja on a plate. As for the wine list, Spanish produce is certainly championed, but also expect representation for top estates around the globe.
Restaurante Bodegas Baigorri
Samaniego, Álava
Built by Basque architect Iñaki Aspiazu, Bodegas Baigorri is a sleek, glass-fronted Bond villain lair of a building boasting jaw-dropping views across Rioja Alavesa. In something of a plot twist, the eponymous restaurant within this architectural wonder of glass and steel is located six floors underground, where arched windows allow diners to gawp at the beauty of the local landscape on one side, and sleeping barrels on the other.
The restaurant is headed up by local wunderkind Maite Barruti, and her six-course classic menu (€65) changes every month and includes four Baigorri wines, while the €75 premium menu features a quintet of the bodega’s top drops, such as its silky, violet-scented Garnacha. Working with local, seasonal ingredients, Barruti’s dishes – which currently include mango and cucumber gazpacho; prawn tartare with avocado and courgette; and oxtail pie with potato parmentier and sautéed mushrooms – are fresh and indulgent in equal measure. Menus can be adapted for groups if organised in advance, and all visits include a winery tour.
Tierra
Entrena
Meaning ‘earth’ or ‘land’ in Spanish, Tierra, housed within the quirky, glass-fronted, Davíd Delfin-designed Finca de los Arandinos, champions hyper-local ingredients sourced from close to the winery. The restaurant boasts scenic views over the vines at the foot of the Moncalvillo Mountains and offers up tasting menus, with a €75 option serving as a greatest hits collection of the restaurant’s best dishes, including white asparagus with paprika emulsion; cod flakes and black olive; and beef sirloin with truffled potato parmentier, beef jus and a cured egg yolk.
Respectful of local produce but keen to keep things interesting, Spanish ingredients are given an avant-garde twist via daring dishes like turbot in a green Thai curry sauce; and steak tartare with foie gras shavings and a crispy corn tortilla. They had us at caramelised French toast with vanilla ice cream.
Castillo Ygay Private Kitchen
Logroño
When the King of Spain officially inaugurates a restaurant, you know it’s going to be a big deal – and the private kitchen at Marqués de Murrieta doesn’t disappoint. Housed within the recently rebuilt Castillo Ygay castle, which underwent a decade-long renovation that included 6,000 tonnes of stone, the dining space is served by a 70,000-bottle cellar, which boasts wines dating back to 1852. Overseen by in-house chef Miguel Narro, who celebrates clashes as much as complementary flavours in his dishes, the bodega offers a pair of gourmet tasting menus alongside its winery tours, which were designed with the wines in mind.
The €195 10-course menu features four wines, including Marqués de Murrieta Limited Edition 2014 and Capellania 2018, served alongside dishes made with Spanish ingredients that tip their hat to French techniques, such as foie gras terrine with an orange coulis; and roasted sea bass in a citric velouté. The €495 14-course extravaganza, meanwhile, pulls out the big guns, with wines on pour including Gosset Grande Reserve Brut Champagne and Castillo Ygay 2012. Its dishes range from scarlet prawn tartare with aromatic coral, to stuffed artichoke gratin with olive and soy, with almond soufflé with honey ice cream to finish.
La Casa Cosme Palacio
Laguardia, Álava
Epitomising the current trend for bespoke experiences, Cosme Palacio’s guesthouse – La Casa Cosme Palacio in Rioja Alavesa – can only be booked by invitation. Those lucky enough to be invited to stay there will be put in the safe hands of its in-house chef, who is on hand to cater to your every culinary whim. Serving bountiful al fresco barbecues in the summer months alongside lunches and dinners in its cosy, stone-clad dining room, which is softened by its pale blue and white colour scheme and pared-back Scandi aesthetic, many of the ingredients that go into the dishes are sourced from the bodega’s kitchen garden.
With an open fire roaring in the middle of the room, the dining space was where Cosme Palacios’ grapes used to arrive fresh from the vines on large carts. Each of the dishes on the tasting menu, which currently includes spider crab with Basque beef emulsion; creamy rice with baby squid; and grilled fig with fig leaf ice cream, are paired with a different wine from the range – lobster stew is served with golden glasses of Cosme Palacio 1894 Blanco. During harvest lunches you can dine among the vines and taste the first must from a traditional press.
Martín Cendoya
Guardia, Álava
Shining a light on traditional Riojan fare is the family-run Eguren Ugarte in the town of Páganos near Laguardia, Rioja Alavesa. Here, chefs cook over wood in open fires at on-site restaurant Martín Cendoya. Offering a pared-back menu where quality ingredients are put on a pedestal, kick off proceedings with some gooey Idiazábal cheese croquettes, then move on to lamb chops roasted over vine shoots served with a simple lettuce, tomato and onion salad and Riojan string beans.
The restaurant champions Basque specialities, from ‘pochas’ (white beans) to homemade pastries, and weaves morcilla (blood sausage) into tortillas oozing with salsa Riojana – a local red pepper and tomato sauce. The venue veers off the beaten track with more modern dishes, such as grilled octopus with white truffle and paprika; and clams with salsa verde, which can be paired with wines from the bodega’s vast back catalogue. Even lighter fare delivers on indulgence, like the restaurant’s wonderfully decadent fried eggs with caviar.
Restaurante Gonzalo de Berceo
Badarán
Uniting fine dining with an Iberian literary legend, the subterranean restaurant at Bodega David Moreno pays tribute to 12th century Spanish poet Gonzalo de Berceo, who hailed from Rioja and is celebrated as an early pioneer of Castilian verse. The cavernous space boasts a vaulted ceiling and arched windows overlooking the barrel cellars, giving diners an immersive experience.
Taking a local approach, the restaurant specialises in meats roasted over vine shoots from its Badarán vineyard to enrich their flavour. Paired with a simple garden salad, the lamb cutlets cooked using this method are not to be missed. Keeping things traditional, the restaurant also goes big on roasted suckling lamb – a perfect pairing for red Rioja – and Riojan-style potatoes served with chorizo. A guided tour of the winery is offered to all diners.
Restaurante Vivanco
Briones
Vivanco has been spreading the good gospel of Rioja for 20 years since it opened its Museum of Wine Culture. But man cannot survive on knowledge alone, and the bodega is also home to a circular restaurant offering impressive panoramic views over the vineyards and the Sierra de Cantabria. Here, chef Maribel Frades riffs on traditional Riojan dishes with contemporary flourishes. The venue champions local produce cooked in a wood-fired oven and on grills fuelled by vine twigs, rootstocks and oak from old wine casks.
Paying attention to texture and presentation, there are a number of tasting menus on offer, from a six-course, €44 Riojan Heritage menu to Harmonies, a menu that includes sommelier-selected wine pairings. Standout offerings include morcilla croquettes with roasted red peppers; cod loin in a garlic and red chilli emulsion; and spiced brioche French toast with pear ice cream. There’s also a tapas bar on the terrace for those seeking light bites overlooking the vines.
