2025 Rioja & Spain Vintage

The Control Board of DOCa Rioja's own account of 2025 begins with water. The year was constrained by a higher than usual rainfall regime during the key phases of vegetative development, especially in spring and during the flowering period. Those conditions favoured significant downy mildew pressure and forced growers to be extremely careful in the vineyard. The Board credits accumulated experience and professionalism with controlling the disease adequately, but is explicit that it had an impact on yields, which were at historically low levels in some areas. After that complex stretch, the cycle evolved toward a final phase of optimal ripening accompanied by favourable weather, which allowed a staggered, selective and non-urgent harvest and let growers pick at the optimum moment with fruit in excellent health. The Board's Technical Services report sums the year up as initial adversity with a very positive resolution, thanks to improved weather in the final phase and the technical level of the sector. Growers add texture. Alejandra Rubio, technical director of the Control Board, described a small harvest in volume but long in its development, with favourable autumn weather letting growers and wineries choose their ideal picking date without rushing. Rafa Usoz of Bodegas Sonsierra in San Vicente de la Sonsierra said picking dates ran at around the same time as in 2024 and expected a crop of similar size to that historically small year, crediting cool nights and warm sunny days through September with completing the ripening cycle and developing colour and aroma precursors. Maria Barua, technical director at Bodegas LAN, attributed the small crop to hot summer weather creating a water deficit despite abundant winter and spring rainfall, producing loose, uncompact bunches of small berries and so an excellent must to skin ratio. The national picture from AEMET frames it: the third wettest March on record, which replenished water reserves and triggered mildew outbreaks, and the hottest summer ever recorded, which cut yields.

• Higher than usual rainfall through key vegetative phases, concentrated in spring and at flowering
• Significant downy mildew pressure, controlled by growers but at a cost to yields
• Yields at historically low levels in some areas; Bodegas Sonsierra expected a crop similar in size to the historically small 2024
• Bodegas LAN: hot summer weather created a water deficit despite abundant winter and spring rain, giving loose bunches of small berries and an excellent must to skin ratio
• Final phase of optimal ripening under favourable weather, with cool nights and warm sunny days through September completing the cycle
• Harvest was staggered, selective and unhurried, with picking dates around the same time as 2024 in Rioja Alta and fruit arriving in excellent health
• National context per AEMET: third wettest March on record and the hottest summer ever recorded

Rioja's vintage rating is not a gesture. Following its plenary session, the Control Board of the QDO Rioja rated 2025 Excellent, ratified by the Plenum after analysis of 2,176 samples. The tasting panel was made up of 134 professionals, with each wine sample tasted by five judges, which works out to close to 11,000 individual sensory ratings. The Board presents this as one of the most rigorous vintage rating systems in existence, in line with the demand it applies across its certification processes, with the stated goal of guaranteeing authenticity for consumers and professionals. The plenary session also assessed the 2025 harvest itself, confirming the readings taken at the end of the campaign and pointing to a vintage of extraordinary quality timed to Rioja's centenary year. The Board's technical director, Alejandra Rubio, framed the vintage as a balance between difficulty and know-how, highlighting quality, freshness and territorial identity among the young wines along with high ageing potential.

• Rating: Excellent, ratified by the Plenum of the DOCa Rioja Control Board
• 2,176 samples analysed, 134 professional judges, five judges per sample, close to 11,000 sensory ratings
• The plenary assessment of the harvest confirmed the readings taken at the end of the campaign
• Alejandra Rubio, technical director: a balance between difficulty and know-how, with high ageing potential in the young wines

The Control Board's own description of the 2025 wines is unusually specific. On the whites and roses it reports clean, fresh, aromatic and floral wines with appropriate acidity and very good structure in the mouth, which it presents as consolidating a quality trend of recent years. On the reds it reports very balanced wines, more structured than in previous years and highly complex, with great aromatic potential of red fruit and a wide variety of positive aromas, along with high polyphenol values and colour intensity that the Board calls typical of exceptional vintages. Alejandra Rubio reported very healthy grapes with excellent balance and phenolic ripeness. Maria Barua of Bodegas LAN expected very aromatic, deeply coloured wines from the year's small berries and favourable must to skin ratio. Josep Sabarich, chief winemaker at Familia Torres, put the year in national perspective, calling 2025 an excellent vintage that stands out as superior to 2024 and 2023 across all appellations. Since the wines were being prepared for bottling or barrel ageing at the time of this reporting, drinking windows remain an early call, though the Board explicitly flags remarkable ageing potential.

• Whites and roses: clean, fresh, aromatic and floral, with appropriate acidity and very good structure in the mouth
• Reds: very balanced, more structured than previous years, highly complex, with red fruit aromatics and a wide range of positive aromas
• High polyphenol values and colour intensity, which the Board describes as typical of exceptional vintages
• Bodegas LAN expected very aromatic, deeply coloured wines from small berries with an excellent must to skin ratio
• Ageing: the Board flags well integrated acidity and remarkable ageing potential, though the wines were only heading to bottle or barrel at the time of reporting

Rioja's small, high-quality 2025 was part of a national pattern. Foods and Wines from Spain reports that the quality of the 2025 vintage has been almost unanimously declared exceptional across the country, while the vintage is expected to be Spain's second smallest of the 21st century, behind only 2023. Josep Sabarich of Familia Torres identified the three drivers as rainfall returning, especially in the Mediterranean basin after years of severe drought, mildew pressure following the spring rains in regions including Rueda, Ribera del Duero, Rioja and Catalonia, and heat waves in June and August in central Spain that reduced yields without compromising quality. The detail varies sharply by region. Ribera del Duero picked 129.5 million kilos, its second largest vintage of the decade. Galicia collected 76 million kilos across its five denominations, its third largest ever, with Rias Baixas and Monterrei recording their biggest crops on record. Andalusia went the other way, with production falling by around 50 percent, and Jerez finishing at 34.5 million kilos, just over half of 2024, after widespread mildew and intense heat that hit 45.8 degrees Celsius in Jerez de la Frontera on 17 August.

• 2025 is expected to be Spain's second smallest vintage of the 21st century, behind 2023, with quality almost unanimously called exceptional
• Familia Torres identified returning rainfall, post-spring mildew pressure and June and August heat waves as the three drivers
• Ribera del Duero picked 129.5 million kilos, its second largest vintage of the decade
• Galicia harvested 76 million kilos across five denominations, its third largest ever, with record crops in Rias Baixas and Monterrei
• Andalusian production fell around 50 percent, with Jerez at 34.5 million kilos, just over half of 2024
• Jerez de la Frontera recorded 45.8 degrees Celsius on 17 August