Rioja Report 2025: The white wines

It’s been said often enough, in recent times, as peace agreements in Ukraine and the Middle East remain elusive: peace is a process, requiring work and commitment – not an event. The same could be said of revolutions. Rioja’s ‘white revolution’ is the perfect example of a process unfolding, with a lot of work and commitment from producers – no doubt in response to consumer demand, but also as a product of a re-appreciation of the region’s heritage and pre-phylloxera palette of grapes and styles. Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting's best white wines [subscriber-content]Not that long ago, the fact that 152 of the 700+ wines we tasted were white (including at least 10 with enough skin maceration to fall under the ‘orange’ category) would certainly have been unlikely. White Rioja is evolving, deeply and rapidly, with a new canon emerging alongside its red counterpart. The selection here reflects the evolution of these classics; some firmly established, others still carving their space, all recognisable in the glass, stylistically assertive and technically pristine (albeit so differently made, which explains the wide array of vintages released in the same 12 months). Excellence & diversity The best white wines we tasted are simply world class. Comparisons between white Rioja and white Burgundy have become a cliché – helpful if trying to contextualise quality and commercial potential, but also arguably unfair. There’s an unmistakable Riojan identity to wines such as Murrieta’s Capellanía, Jesús Acha’s Senda de Haro and Victor Ausejo’s Parcela 333. It’s not just a matter of place and grape variety, but also of structure and texture – a towering assertiveness to the acid backbone; an elegant yet muscular savouriness on the palate. The stylistic range – from CVNE’s Monopole Clásico GR to Alonso & Pedrajo’s Suañé, via Ostatu’s Lore and Conde Valdemar’s Finca Alto Cantabria – is wide but delivered with consistency. Differences in how wood – and as its counterpoint, reduction (a technical winemaking feature induced by fermenting in the absence of oxygen and often described as an aroma of flint, smoke, struck match or even asparagus) – is used, were particularly interesting. Gone are the days when flagship white Rioja meant nutty depth and oxidative intensity. Here we see top wines of flinty verve and chalky smokiness; wines of chiselled fruit alongside expressions with firm phenolic- laden grip; and wines that remain unapologetically classical, framed by spicy wood. This makes for a fascinating coexistence of traditional, modern and post-modern Rioja – a theme throughout the report and certainly one of the most exciting processes happening in the region, with this ‘clash’ of perspectives opening new views and possibilities, not least on the white front. The next challenge But for a more coherent picture of what white Rioja is – and can be – to become clear, more ambition is needed at the lower end of the price spectrum. The wines shown here can, for the most part, be described as ‘premium’; humbler whites didn’t show the same character and consistency or indeed the same confidence and energy as the reds at the same price. If it’s at mid- to premium-level that white Rioja has potential to become truly competitive, a battling entry-point needs to tell the same tale of regional identity and differentiated quality. However, given how rapidly the category is evolving, we’ll no doubt see exciting developments in our 2026 report! [/subscriber-content] Rioja Report 2025: The best white wines [wine-collection] Related articles Notes on a tasting a century in the making Expert's Choice: Rioja 2021 The last botero of Rioja

PREMIUM

Rioja Report 2025: The white wines

Scroll down for notes and scores of the tasting’s best white wines

Rioja Report 2025: The best white wines

Related articles

Notes on a tasting a century in the making

Expert’s Choice: Rioja 2021

The last botero of Rioja

Latest Wine News

Red wine and chocolate lovers find hope in flavonoid diet study

Coming soon: Decanter World Wine Awards 2025 results

ASC Fine Wines officially returns to family ownership

Decanter magazine June 2025: See what’s inside

Bordeaux 2024: Pichon Comtesse, Canon drop 20% in price

Latest Premium Content

Bordeaux’s famous ‘5’ vintages

Bodega Chacra: A New World meeting of redoubtable Old World minds

Tasting four decades of Ornellaia in Paris

Insider’s guide: What the locals are drinking in Rioja

Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo d’Alba: These 25 bottles prove it’s not all about Barolo