Logroño sits on the south bank of the Ebro, in the centre of La Rioja, and for a wine lover it is as close as it comes to a capital. The city has around a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants and a pleasant old quarter, with a cathedral, an old stone bridge and a very tasty pedestrian street called Calle del Laurel, where bar after bar serves a single speciality, such as mushrooms with prawn, or small skewers of grilled pork, along with a glass of the local red. Locals walk from bar to bar, eating one or two things in each, a ritual called the pinchos crawl.
Logroño also lies on the Camino de Santiago, and pilgrims arrive from the east along the river, looking for a bed. The city's cathedral, with its twin Baroque towers, and the old pilgrim hospital reflect centuries of this traffic. The Ebro is wide here, with a pleasant riverside path and the stone bridge, Puente de Piedra, built in the nineteenth century on the foundations of an older one.
The wine country spreads in every direction. Rioja is divided into three zones, with the higher, cooler Rioja Alta to the west, the Alavesa to the north, across the river, and the warmer Baja to the east. Tempranillo is the main grape, and the best wines are aged in oak for years before release. The roads wind through low hills and vineyards, with the Sierra Cantabria, a wall of limestone, rising to the north. Villages such as Haro, Laguardia and Briones, with their medieval walls and church towers, are the natural stopping points, and many bodegas offer tours and tastings.
The riding is relaxed, with mostly wide, well-surfaced roads and mild curves. In harvest time, from late September, tractors and grape trucks share the road, and the vineyards turn red and gold in October. Summer is hot, with temperatures often above thirty-five degrees, and winter can be cold and foggy, with frost on the vines.
Fuel is easy in the city and in the wine towns, and restaurants serve roast lamb, stewed vegetables and cured meats. As a rider, a taste of wine is a pleasure, but the roads and the law are unforgiving, so buy a bottle and drink it at the hotel.