10 Best Wine Travel Destinations 2013: Rioja (Spain), has been ranked as the most most exciting place to visit by Wine Enthusiast.
Among Spanish wine regions, Rioja ranks as the granddaddy of them all. Located in northeast Spain along the Ebro River, protected to the north by the Cantabrian Mountains and anchored by the city of Logroño, Rioja boasts centuries of winemaking history. It entered the modern commercial era in the 19th century, when French wine-makers, looking to escape the spreading phylloxera plague, crossed the Pyrénées and settled in Rioja. Today, Rioja offers an elite mix of Iberian history, stunning scenery, proprietary cuisine, brilliant wines and a unique meshing of old and new. Welcome to Spain’s greatest wine region.