Decanter’s Andrew Jefford Makes the Case for Rioja on Every Serious Wine List

Andrew Jefford’s May 2026 Decanter column from Rioja’s centennial celebration is required reading for anyone building a wine list, managing a portfolio, or educating guests about Spain. In it, the Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair and one of the English-speaking world’s most rigorous wine writers delivers what amounts to a professional brief on why Rioja deserves renewed attention — and serious placement.

His argument is structural as much as sensory. Rioja was awarded its denominación de origen on 6 June 1925 — more than a decade before France established its appellation system. It has 100 years of regulatory infrastructure, quality control, and aging category discipline behind it. For buyers, that means predictability, traceability, and a classification system that communicates clearly to trained and untrained drinkers alike.

“Rioja’s genius is to combine gentleness and tenderness with generosity and grandeur, despite significant structure. Rioja doesn’t just endure, moreover, but builds beauty in time: a rarer quality.”
— Andrew Jefford, Decanter, May 2026

That last phrase — “builds beauty in time” — is the commercial argument in four words. Aged Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva is released to market already at or approaching peak drinking, often at price points that significantly undercut comparable aged Burgundy, Bordeaux, or Barolo. The margin opportunity for buyers and the value proposition for by-the-glass programs is considerable.

Jefford also addresses the diversity question head-on. Spanish Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros Torres told the assembled tasters bluntly: “Rioja doesn’t exist. You have to add adjectives.” For trade professionals, this is a selling point, not a complication. The 2017 origin classification system — Vino de Zona, Vino de Pueblo, Viñedo Singular — gives sommeliers a Burgundian framework guests already understand: appellation specificity mapped to increasing quality and price.

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The numbers behind the region

100	Years of D.O. regulation — since 1925 Predating France’s appellation system by more than a decade. One of the world’s most established quality frameworks.
495m	Average vineyard elevation Higher than most Burgundy vineyards. Many sites reach 900m or more, delivering natural acidity and freshness even in warm vintages — a critical factor for list versatility.
30%	Of plantings are old vines (35+ years) Around 66,639 total hectares, with 600 parcels — 182 hectares — certified centenarian. Old vine provenance is increasingly valued by informed consumers and auction buyers alike.
1925	Denominación de origen established A century of legally defined aging categories — Genérico, Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva — gives buyers a reliable, consumer-legible quality ladder unlike almost anywhere else.

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Producers and wines flagged in Jefford’s column

★	Queirón 2021 Mi Lugar — Vino de Quel Jefford’s wine of the month. Rioja Oriental · 90% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha · ~£26 ex-UK. “Cool-shot fruit, riffling with hill grasses and wild herbs, finely structured.” Strong BTG candidate at the price point. Red · Modern · By-the-Glass Value
NEW	Vignerons de la Sonsierra 2024 José Gil “Supple and perfumed.” Rioja Alavesa. A new-departure style that bridges traditional and modern — useful for lists aiming to represent Rioja’s evolving identity. Red · Modern · New Departure
NEW	Miguel Merino 2022 La Loma “Virtuoso.” Briones, Rioja Alta. Single-village provenance under the Vino de Pueblo classification — the kind of specificity that rewards wine list annotation and guest storytelling. Red · Modern · Vino de Pueblo
ICON	Marqués de Murrieta — Castillo Ygay 1986 “Seduced us all — thanks to skill, wood and its cellar years.” A benchmark for aged white Rioja on any serious list. Anchor for collector and fine dining programs. White · Traditional · Cellar Anchor
ICON	Faustino — White Gran Reserva Jefford singles out the Chardonnay component as contributing “gold, cream… and Rioja’s old, enduring joy.” An accessible entry point for guests already comfortable with white Burgundy. White · Traditional · Guest-Friendly

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Jefford’s column is useful precisely because it comes from outside the region. He’s not advocating for Rioja — he’s reporting what a five-hour centennial tasting and gala dinner did to him. That kind of unguarded critical response, from a writer of his standing in a publication of Decanter’s reach, is the sort of third-party validation that moves the needle with trade buyers and serious consumers.

For wine professionals, the practical takeaway is clear: Rioja offers a rare combination of critical credibility, consumer legibility, old-vine provenance, elevation-driven freshness, and a classification system that sells itself. As Jefford puts it, these are wines that make you ask — mid-glass, mid-list, mid-career — why you’d ever reach for anything else.

Read the full Decanter article by Andrew Jefford →

This article originally appeared in Decanter magazine, May 2026.
Written by Andrew Jefford, Contributing Editor. All editorial opinions are his own.