Otoño de Sabores on the Rioja Alta Wine Route

If autumn is one of the most special times to get to know us, this one will be even more so thanks to the unique proposals we have prepared. With the “Otoño de Sabores” initiative, we at the Rioja Alta Wine Route want to welcome the new season as we know best: with a high-level gastronomic event, which includes a wide range of unique and authentic food and wine proposals and experiences to conquer the palate of the public.

From 15 September to 23 October 2022, those who come to the Rioja Alta Wine Route will be able to take part in the different activities developed by 40 of our partners in which they will showcase Rioja produce and our authentic gastronomy, as well as the excellent wines protected by the DOCa Rioja.

Thus, the restaurants will offer us their best interpretation of the flavours with menus specially prepared for the occasion based on seasonal products, where local Riojan products will be the protagonists. The accommodations have proposed stays with special content, including paired menus or special breakfasts, picnic hampers or other complementary activities, in order to satisfy the needs of the most gourmet public.

In addition, the wineries will offer tastings and unique gastronomic experiences that will take place in the winery itself or among the vineyards and will be perfectly paired with their wines, while local agri-food producers will create authentic experiences to showcase the excellence of honey, cheeses and other Riojan products.

Tourists and locals alike will find something to suit all tastes and budgets, from pinchos paired with a Rioja reserva for €7.50 to paired tasting menus for €69, featuring typical dishes of Rioja gastronomy, innovative elaborations that showcase the avant-garde cuisine also found in the region, reinterpretations of traditional recipes and experiences in the kitchens of Michelin-starred restaurants, with their corresponding tasting.

A date with #productoriojano

Among the different proposals, thanks to the support of the Department of Agrifood Promotion of the Government of La Rioja, the activity ‘A date with #productoriojano’ will be organised on Tuesday, 18 October, from 20:00 to 22:30h (approx), a show in which humour, theatre, live music, gastronomy, wine and the region’s quality products come together so that participants can live an authentic experience.

This action is part of the campaign ‘#productoriojano, lo vas a querer’ to project the uniqueness of the region’s products: territory, gastronomy, product and people, which will be the common thread of this activity, coinciding with the values that the Rioja Alta Wine Route and ADRA want to promote with this Autumn of Flavours event.

“An exaltation of our gastronomy”.

This event is a strong commitment to sustainability, seasonal cuisine and Rioja products Km. 0. The Director of Rural Development and Demographic Challenge, Nuria Bazo states that “the Rioja Alta Wine Route’s Autumn of Flavours is an exaltation of our gastronomy and Rioja products, a way of showing the goodness of the landscape, the culture, our traditions and the value of our people”.

According to the manager of the Rioja Alta Wine Route, Alfonso Maestro, “we want to achieve excellence in our wine tourism proposal and what better way to do so than by combining our wines with the excellent Rioja gastronomy”. At the same time, he stated that “we want to find the best gastronomic proposals and who better than the public, lovers of good food, to help us find them by evaluating the different proposals we offer”.

For his part, Manuel Romero, director of the company DINAMIZA, which conceptualised and developed the event, stressed that “the members of the Rioja Alta Wine Route welcomed the idea in a fantastic way from the very first moment and have prepared real food and wine experiences that have surprised us all. It is always a good time to come to Rioja, but with this catalogue of proposals our mouths are watering and we want to stay here all Autumn”.

The public who enjoy the experiences will be able to rate them using a QR code provided by the participating establishments, and will be eligible for various prizes, such as a gastronomic getaway to the Rioja Alta Wine Route, a gastronomic experience or a batch of Rioja products, all of them for two people.