‘Rioja is truly starting to cement itself as one of the great white wine regions in the world,’ says Beth Willard.
‘The work of the past decade is coming to fruition with experimentation around styles, varieties, recuperation of old vineyards and planting of new ones all coming together in a real sense of place. Producers seem more comfortable than ever in their own styles.’
‘Producers seem more comfortable than ever in their own styles.’
Beth Willard
The turnout of whites was, not unexpectedly, remarkable – and certainly a step up from last year’s.
If in 2025 we noted that there was a significant number of samey, less-than-exciting bottles (technically correct wines but somewhat lacking in identity and regional typicity), one year on this was decidedly not an issue.
The sense of experimentation we previously felt lacking has now begun to percolate through from the red cohort.
Hopefully this will soon translate into more varied use of fermentation and ageing vessels, as well as wider, more confident personal imprint – which is the hallmark of the outstanding top-scorers in this selection.
The latter are world-class new classics, both from established and maverick producers.
These are forged when, in lieu of trying to fit a generic white winemaking matrix, producers deploy their own interpretation of time and place.
A similar process is happening with the red wines, as the selections in the following pages will illustrate further, but the evolution of Rioja’s whites has been so dramatic, intriguing and fruitful – and so relevant, even beyond the context of the region itself.
World-class potential
The white Rioja category captures, with particular vividness, the different catalysts of Rioja’s current dilemmas and opportunities: the ever more granular understanding of terroir; the different interpretations of classicism versus modernity, tradition versus innovation; the need to spread the word about the premium offering it already has, as made obvious in this report.
The quality of the wines speaks for itself, with textural appeal, structural poise and layered aromatics as common denominators.
‘The trade and consumers will benefit from recognising the outstanding quality and diversity of styles that exist now, and that white Rioja is not a one-trick pony,’ Willard concludes.
One thing we’ll be looking out for in future reports? More Maturana Blancas. The variety is being actively reintroduced by producers and has so much potential to deliver word-class and truly Riojan white wines.
White Rioja: highlights from the 2026 Report
Full score table coming soon
More from the report
Explore the full Rioja Report 2026
Our comprehensive analysis across styles and categories, plus profiles of stand-out producers.
Rioja Report 2026: Genérico but not generic – variations on style
