Wine Tourism in Spain

One of Spain’s leading wine-producing regions, La Rioja, is transforming itself into a wine tourism destination. In the past two years, a wine museum has debuted, a Santiago Calatrava-designed winery has opened and a Zaha Hadid tasting room was inaugurated. And this past October, the area saw the opening of the Marques de Riscal’s City of Wine, which houses Rioja’s oldest winery, Marques de Riscal, and a new Frank Gehry-designed complex that is home to the 43-room Hotel Marques de Riscal, a Starwood Luxury Collection hotel. Hotel guests will have access to the Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa—offering a wide variety of massages and treatments featuring “wine therapy”—as well as to the local vineyards, a cooking school, a wine tasting corner, and a restaurant that will cook up regional dishes and promises to please even the most discerning of gourmands.

Wine tourism is a nice fit for Spain since the country has more land “under vine” than any other country in the world and is third in wine production after France and Italy. Indeed, the government—along with the Association of Wine Cities of Spain (ACEVIN)—is developing 17 wine routes throughout the country, and in the region of La Rioja, specifically, visitors can tour 35 bodegas that dot the area’s already-established wine route.

~~ For more information on Marques de Riscal City of Wine, visit marquesderiscal.com. For more on Spain, visit spain.info.