Regional info.

Though established by his father in 1915, Pedro Vivanco is the shrewd businessman who made his fortune in the wine trade. He was a merchant, became a substantial vineyard owner, and went on to build a portfolio of his own bodegas. Quietly and steadily he grew Vivanco into a major player on the Rioja stage. The family owns seven bodegas and some 400 hectares of vineyard, with other wine interests in Navarra.

In 1985 Pedro bought the site of the current winery and museum, in the heart of Rioja Alta. In 1990 he started the ambitious project that would become the driving force for himself and sons Rafael and Santiago: the Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco.

Rafael is a softly spoken and charming ambassador for Dinastia Vivanco. He is winemaker, trained in Spain and Bordeaux, but with extensive worldwide travel under his belt. Rafael's brother Santiago works mostly on the commercial side of the business, with his degrees in law and business management.

Spain's Rioja region - which runs along the Ebro River in northern Spain is one of just two Spanish wine regions that are recognized Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOC or Qualified Denomination of Origin), an official statement of quality. (Priorat is the other DOC.)

Styles vary, from easy drinking Crianzas and some Reservas, to the Reservas and Gran Reservas of the top estates which may cellar and improve for decades. The grape of note is the Tempranillo, although there are some plantings of lesser grapes, including Garnacha Tinta (known as Grenache in France).

The three regions of Rioja have distinct terroir, though all are mountainous and have long springs and summers. Rioja Alta is along the most northerly portion of the Ebro River and has the coolest, wettest climate and is by far the most important of the three. Rioja Alavesa - surrounding the middle portion of the Ebro - is warmer and has more alkaline soil. Most southerly is Rioja Baja, which has a warmer, drier, more Mediterranean clime.

Red wines are often labelled as Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva. It is worth noting that much of Rioja's character depends on the long ageing in American oak. In Rioja and the Ribera del Duero, Crianza wines are two years old, with at least twelve months spent in cask (elsewhere the oak ageing may legally be restricted to just six months). Reservas are three years old (at least one year in cask), Gran Reservas five years old (two in cask, three in bottle).

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