Rioja Report 2026: Five producers at the top of their game

Rioja Report 2026: Five producers at the top of their game Highlighting five producers whose wines stood out from the crowd in this year’s Rioja report tasting While a high-quality baseline determined the tone and rhythm of this report, some producers stood out through wines that not only scored well but also jumped from the glass for their idiosyncrasy and self-assuredness. Their wines are, in some instances, immediately recognisable – often shamelessly compromising the premise of a blind-tasting exercise – possessing their own distinctive style while also being unmistakably Riojan. Our list of standout producers therefore aims to celebrate not just quality but also identity. Theirs are wines that combine a sense of time and place with a distinct personality, making the case for typicity beyond uniformity. There are clear common denominators: expressiveness (both terroir and personal), purity, drinkability and technical ability. All of these wines evoke a sense of personal commitment and craftsmanship supported by painstaking work, deep knowledge of the vineyards and an overlap of personal and historical narratives. This lineup also highlights the fact that it’s possible to arrive at a destination via different paths – it’s all about the journey and the many encounters it allows. And Rioja is, in its very essence, a region forged by serendipitous turns of history leveraged by very different stakeholders. Get our daily fine wine reviews, latest wine ratings, news and travel guides delivered straight to your inbox. These are producers whose wines invite further engagement and discovery. Arturo & Kike de Miguel Artuke Baños de Ebro, Rioja Alavesa Brothers Arturo and Kike de Miguel (see what they did with the brand name there?), took over their father’s vineyards and small winery in Baños de Ebro and have since been crafting some of the region’s most exciting and sought-after ‘new wave’ wines. The purity and expressiveness of their creations became apparent in how they performed in our report tasting. The two farm about 25ha following biodynamic principles and have a terroir-first approach, eschewing all ageing-based classifications in favour of village- and parcel-specific bottlings, all under the Genérico (formerly known as Joven) classification. Their wines combine fierce intensity with structural exactness and aromatic nuance; not unlike the brothers themselves, whose frankness and bonhomie is framed by broad shoulders and warmly thunderous voices. While their village blends (Pies Negros and the carbonic maceration namesake Artuke) are among Rioja’s most insanely good-value modern wines, Artuke’s top single-vineyard labels – La Condenada and El Escolladero – are on the path to icon status. Artuke wines tasted for this report La Condenada 2024 98pts Trascuevas 2024 98pts El Escolladero 2024 96pts Paso Las Mañas Paraje El Chorro 2024 96pts Carlos Mazo Gutiérrez Vinos en Voz Baja Aldeanueva de Ebro, Rioja Oriental One of the wines that most surprised and delighted at the masterclass we hosted at the Decanter New York Fine Wine Encounter in June 2025, to celebrate Rioja’s centenary, was Carlos Mazo’s Nace La Sierra. It stood out for its levity and purity, and introduced the audience – more familiar with the traditional, classical style of Rioja – to the possibility of a different interpretation of the region, more focused, fluid, quieter. It’s not by chance that he decided to name his project Vinos en Voz Baja – ‘wines in a soft voice’. The same quiet rusticity and gentleness of touch made Mazo’s wines shine in this report’s tasting. Both traits are evocative of Mazo himself, a softly spoken, unassuming winemaker, completely committed to land and family. He works mostly with old-vine Garnacha (red, white and grey), with scattered and interspersed plantings of Pasera, Viura and Tinto Velasco. The fruit is handled with remarkable subtlety, infused rather than extracted, allowing the varieties to shine through the prism of their specific location. Mazo’s wines coax you into slowing down and engaging with a different way of doing things; although refreshing and supremely drinkable, their textural appeal invites time on the palate – and some good bread, thinly cut jamón and fragrant olive oil. Vinos en Voz Baja wines tasted for this report Barrio Pastores 2024 95pts Costumbres Blanco 2024 94pts Nace la Sierra 2024 94pts Costumbres Tinto 2024 93pts Sandra Bravo Sierra de Toloño Villabuena de Álava, Rioja Alavesa One of our standout producers last year, Sandra Bravo easily earned a spot in our top lineup again. Her wines are immediately recognisable in the glass: elegant, upfront, crystalline and textural. Their evolution since Sierra de Toloño’s first harvest in 2012 is also remarkable, showing ever greater confidence and increasingly lending more expressiveness to Bravo’s pristine technical ability. After completing her studies, Bravo honed her craft in Bordeaux, Chianti, Marlborough, California and Priorat, she returned to Rioja in 2012 with equal amounts of emotion, drive, work ethic and critical thinking. Knowledge and approachability are the foundations of her style, informed by emotion and technique, allowing her to interpret the more than 20 plots of old vines – mostly Garnacha – she farms on the rugged slopes of the Sonsierra region. While technically pristine, Bravo’s wines never come across as ‘technical’ or ‘cold’; there’s indeed a comforting quality to them that reflects Bravo’s down-to-earth authenticity. Classical approachability and elegant rusticity are possibly the best ways to summarise the essence of her wines – from her pure, poised so-called entry-level red and white (an outrageous steal at just €12 in Spain, about £20 in the UK), to her single-plot creations, of which there are many. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: wines such as the white Nahikun (‘desire’ in Euskadi) and Tereseño, from Garnacha planted in 1944, are among Rioja’s future (present?) classics. Sierra de Toloño wines tasted for this report Tereseño 2023 97pts La Dula Garnachas de Altura 2023 96pts Nahikun Blanco 2024 95pts Sierra de Toloño Tinto 2023 94pts Victor Ausejo Alberite, Rioja Oriental Victor Ausejo’s trajectory was unusual from the outset. The son of an experienced Rioja viticulturist, he never liked viticulture and began working as a plumber. However, when work dried up, he found himself working towards a degree in viticulture and winemaking in Logroño; and while studying, the wine bug bit him hard. While gaining experience at Vivanco and Gómez Cruzado he started to set his sights on making his own wines. Here again, his path wasn’t obvious. In 2014, his father convinced him to regraft a family vineyard of Tempranillo with Garnacha Blanca, anticipating (correctly) increased demand for white grapes in Rioja. Little did he know that this would become one of his son’s specialisms. In 2016, Ausejo planted two more hectares of the variety; in 2018, the first Victor Ausejo Garnacha Blanca was produced. It wasn’t until 2021 that Ausejo produced his first reds. Today, he works with Garnacha, both white and red, and Mazuelo to produce a boutique range that’s unique in its energetic grip and electric tension. Ausejo calls his tiny winery a workshop, a place of experimentation and discovery. Victor Ausejo wines tasted for this report Garnacha Blanca Vino de Clavijo 2024 96pts Garnacha Tinta 2023 96pts Mazuelo Vino de Alberite 2023 96pts Parcela 333 2024 95pts Muga Rioja Alta With the third generation now at the helm, Muga continues to evolve, not resting on its many laurels, and not taking success or status for granted. Ultimately, this is part of Muga’s enduring appeal: an unpretentious classicism and authoritative humility. The evolution of the range has been both a response to market demands and a refinement of the house style. Alongside long-standing classics such as Torre de Muga and Prado Enea now stand Muga’s flagship white and rosé (both dubbed Flor de Muga), whose development in the past decade itself reflects ongoing fine-tuning and self-questioning – while staying painstakingly true to a recognisable identity. A meticulous approach is paramount, in the vineyard as in the cellar. With help from the University of Salamanca, technical director Isaac Muga and head winemaker Pablo Orio are conducting an extensive study of the soils in each vineyard parcel. Meanwhile, Muga is the only winery in Rioja with its own cooperage, fastidiously selecting and maturing the wood for each barrique and foudre in-house. Clarification of the wines is still done with egg whites and racking (transferring between containers) is done by gravity only – the approach is low-tech, high-detail and craft-heavy. Like other Rioja powerhouses, Muga also plays a crucial socioeconomic role in supporting a tight-knit network of small growers – something that makes its evolution and success very much a collective endeavour. Muga wines tasted for this report Flor de Muga Blanco Reserva 2022 97pts Flor de Muga Rosado 2025 95pts Torre Muga 2021 94pts Muga Selección Especial 2021 90pts More from the report Explore the full Rioja Report 2026 Our comprehensive analysis across styles and categories, plus profiles of stand-out producers. Andrew Jefford on Rioja: Why I love these 'magnificent' wines Keeping their cool – discover Spain's delightful light reds Ines is Decanter’s regional editor for Spain, Portugal and South America. Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, she grew up chasing her grandfather among his vines in Ribatejo and thus her love for all things wine began. After completing her Masters Degree in Architecture, Ines worked as a project manager while writing about wine and doing cellar consulting on the side. After moving to London in 2015, she decided to dedicate herself fully to the wine industry and joined the sommelier team at Michelin-starred Spring, Somerset House. Stints at Noble Rot and The Laughing Heart followed, while completing her WSET Diploma in Wines and Spirits. Her work as a judge and writer eventually became her full time commitment and she joined Decanter in 2019 as wine database editor.