Blog: The summer of splendor: wine, orchards and festivals in Rioja

13.07.2022

Wine, orchards and festivals in Rioja

Summer is well underway and Rioja is buzzing in every corner. We are enjoying the longest and sunniest days and the vineyards are brimming full of vitality: the vine bunches of grapes are splendid. It is the perfect time to stroll among them, enjoy a dinner next to the vines, uncork a bottle and grill some vine shoot chops while we observe the starry night sky at the beginning of summer and play at guessing the constellations.

The orchard is also full. Watered by the Ebro River and its seven affluents, it gives us tomatoes, lettuce, zucchinis, peppers… all kinds of vegetables grown in small fields that form a striated tapestry along the Riojan plain.

Driving along the roads and paths that link the villages of the valley and its mountain ranges is a pleasure for the eyes, with a landscape that combines the green of the vineyards with the incipient yellow of the cereal fields, a postcard that is completed with the smell of wet soil on stormy afternoons and the pilgrims who walk the Camino de Santiago. This orchard offers us a local product full of flavor, with all the legacy of those hands, of that tradition transferred from parents to children that we pay tribute to in the kitchen of Allegar.

New summer menu in Allegar

That is why in these days of July, just a couple of weeks after the official arrival of summer, we release our summer gastronomic proposal, prepared by our chef Juan Cuesta.

The new summer menu bets once again for those top quality ingredients, from gardens and local producers, treated with the utmost care, with refined technique and respect. A seasonal proposal, much lighter and refreshing, perfect to enjoy during the most relaxed months of the year.

Among the new suggestions, it is worth highlighting dishes such as Chives and smoked meats, breadcrumbs, pine nuts and raisins; seasonal tomato with Riojan cheese and flavored oil from our own vegetable garden; Sarmiento-grilled squid on Riojan bacon cream and parmesan tuile; the Huerta de Briones (selection of mini seasonal vegetables) or the Sarmiento (reinterpretation of the classic Riojan barbecue, with chorizo, black pudding, bacon… grilled on the classic vine shoots).

For dessert, Mojito, lemon and pistachio or Chocolate with passion fruit. To pair, an interesting selection of wines from the area.

And for a romantic dinner, we have prepared the Love Summer Nights in our Patio de la Muralla. Enjoy a special menu prepared by our Chef in the shelter of the medieval wall of Briones. Call us to reserve your table on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

But Rioja is much more than its wonderful gastronomy. Here it is lived intensely and celebrated with the same intensity, so we invite you to know some of the most emblematic festivals of the summer calendar, festivals that have a great historical value and are a reflection of a culture attached to the good life and tradition.

Festivals

Danza de los zancos of Anguiano

Dance of the stilt walkers of Anguiano,

happens to be one of the most spectacular at national and international level. It was declared a Festival of National and International Tourist Interest in 1970 and a Cultural Asset in 2018.

Every July 22, the day of the patron lady of Anguiano, Maria Magdalena, eight men dressed in a traditional and very unique costume, get on beech wood stilts of 50 centimeters and descend spinning on themselves at very high speed from the Plaza de la Obra, along the Calle Alta, to continue descending the Cuesta de los Danzadores.

This dance is of unknown origin, but it is known that it is more than 400 years old, with different hypotheses that link this spectacular dance to ancestral offerings to favor the harvests, or even linking the movement of the dancers in resemblance to that of the Sun in its passage through the summer sky.

Crónica najeriense

From July 19 to 24, in Najera, this historical representation is celebrated in which the Kingdom of Najera becomes a medieval spectacle, where different moments of the history of this city of La Rioja are staged.

From its first settlers, to historical episodes of the 10th and 11th centuries, which place Najera in a prominent role in the process of formation of the Hispanic kingdoms in the High Middle Ages.

If you needed some excuses to schedule your visit to La Rioja in July, we hope we have given you enough reasons.

Rioja is a land full of wine, of life, of the most honest gastronomy. Of quiet conversations, handshakes, sincerity and loyalty. A unique experience that lies in the essence of Santa María Briones and of which we want to make you a part.

July’s promotion

For this reason, until the end of July, all reservations made directly from our website, with a minimum stay of two nights for two people, can enjoy, at no additional cost, a dinner or lunch included with the same price.

July is an extraordinary month to escape to Rioja and reconnect with the culture and gastronomy that we are sure you will fall in love with.