Rioja Alavesa

Rioja Alavesa One of Spain's most famous wine regions is Rioja, a large area spreading down the valley of the Ebro, the country's longest river. Most of it forms its own province (La Rioja) but the northern part comes under the administration of Vitoria-Gasteiz and is known as Rioja Alavesa. It produces more concentrated wine than elsewhere but in smaller quantities due to the acidity of the soil. On the Sunday before the eclipse we went for a quick whizz round, seeing all kinds of places in not much detail. There were five of us in the car, namely me, BestMate, BestMate'sOtherHalf, BestMate'sOtherHalf'sBestMate and BestMate'sOtherHalf'sBestMate'sOtherHalf, so the trip wasn't especially conducive to focused sightseeing. Here's what we saw anyway. Treviño enclave: On the drive south from Vitoria-Gasteiz the road to La Rioja passes through an administrative anomaly on a grand scale. The Treviño enclave is part of the province of Burgos but entirely surrounded by the province of Álava,…