Stopped in on a rainy spring evening during our first night in Logrono. It was a welcomed respite…read moreto our tired Peregrino bodies. We sipped on excellent wine and had a tasty meal. The barkeep made excellent suggestions, but the real kicker was the tab. We were shocked (and pleasantly surprised) when the bill came out to just about 10 Euros. For 7 glasses of wine and a dish, no less! Love this place!

An excellent stop on the Logrono tapas tour. Wide variety of Asian influence dishes. Fantastic wine…read moreselection. Great price point for quality selection of food. A must stop for a Taste!

Just a great tapas bar a few steps off the beaten tourist path. Everything was fabulous.read more

Is it possible that the same Jack Sparrow type is still working there from the above review two…read moreyears ago??? He fits the description perfectly and yes, makes this place a wonderful experience! But the langostino and the beef in red wine and chocolate sauce tapas were perfect! Everything here is wonderful! Best on the street!

Calle Laurel has no shortage of restaurants, but as we were walking along the very crowded street,…read morethere was something about dark, mysterious interior of Laurus that caught our eyes. Laurus prides itself first and foremost as a wine bar, but a wine bar that serves very high quality food. The wine and the food, yes those were outstanding. But I'll get to that in a minute. An important aspect of dinner that made the evening so memorable was our waiter. He had the sense of humor, conviviality, swagger (and not to mention looks) of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. You need another fork? Don't expect to get one without him pulling a mild joke on you first. It was just punch-line after punch-line throughout the night. If his second job is not as a comedian, I implore him to consider this as an option. The wine selection featured reds and whites from all three of the sub-regions of La Rioja, many of which are not distributed in the United States. Prices were also extremely reasonable. For dinner, there are two menus: a three course prix fixe or an a la carte menu. We opted for the prix fixe, as many of the options available were also on the a la carte menu and the prix fixe worked out to be an excellent deal. Portions were also quite large compared to what one typically receives in Europe. Before we ordered, we were brought warm, flaky, airy bread. For a starter, I had a salad of fresh mixed greens with goat cheese. My main course was bacalao al pil pil - very traditional, but well prepared and hearty. (Laurus does have other more original dishes featuring both fish and meat; the restaurant is by no means a traditional Basque place.) Best of all was dessert: a decadent chocolate and hazelnut cake (it looked very much like a dacquoise). After dessert, our mischievous waiter brought us various shots of liquor (one of which was orujo). This was a very kind gesture and great way to end the meal. Because Logroño is not known for having the best food, I was extremely impressed with the quality of what we received at Laurus.

I've been on many wine tours in my time - Napa, Tuscany, Bordeaux, etc. - and I must say, this tour…read morewas truly something special. Inma, our guide for the day, was the best tour guide I've ever had; yes, THE BEST. She's truly an expert when it comes to Rioja - we found she often knew more than the wineries' own tour guides! And, importantly, she caters the experience to each client (and I should mention she speaks absolutely perfect English). Sure, she'll take you to the bigger, more commercial wineries like Marques de Riscal & Bodegas Ysios, which are both visually stunning and worth going to - but, because she takes the time to learn your tastes she'll introduce you to wineries right up your alley that you'd never otherwise know about, many of which aren't open to the public. And thanks to her local roots & connections, the vintners quite literally give her the keys to their private operations (Gontes comes to mind). Inma caps the day with a delicious late lunch in a private wine cave at Castillo de San Vicente - again, not something you can just go and do; only the locals have access. The cherry on top: her tortilla de patatas is absolutely delicious. All in all, one of the best single days I've had on vacation my entire life. A fantastic experience that I'd recommend to absolutely anyone.

Incredible Rioja Wine Experience with Inma-…read more My boyfriend and I did the Unusual Suspects private tour with Inma. This experience was the highlight of our trip to Spain and a huge part of that was Inma. She taught us about Rioja wine and the region without overloading us with information, made us feel so comfortable, and the experiences at the incredible wineries were due to her relationships with each of the owners, which is a testament to her as a person. We visited three different wineries and had the best lunch that Inma prepared herself with fresh ingredients from our own garden. My boyfriend still talks about her Tortilla de Patatas. We had an additional day in Logrono before heading to San Sebastian and Inma sent us a detailed list of recommendations and even helped us book a bus to San Sebastian, which was a much better option than the train we had booked. I cannot praise Inma and this experience enough.

Beautiful ! Make sure you book a tour and spend some time at the wine bar after. Gorgeous property,…read moreexceptional wine, and friendly people. Cannot recommend this enough.

We worked with the representative Natalia to make arrangements for a tasting. We were very…read moreimpressed by the grounds and buildings of the facility. We were greeted by a employee who hosted the tasting. We tasted four reserva/gran reserva wines and found that the traditional Old World method of making these Riojan wines really did not match our palates. We are used to more rounder wines with less astringency. During the next week and 25 more La Rioja wineries, we would find the sharp demarcation between traditional wines and wines made in a more "modern" way (their term) which would match better with palates more accustomed to New World wines (more fruit and more fruit forward). These were certainly elegant wines and would be spectacular with the right meal. Drinking them without a meal left us wanting something different.

CVNE is a company who has multiple wineries in their group. In Haro, they provide a cross-section…read moreof their products to taste: Cune, Contina, Imperial and Viña Real wineries. We did not like the Cune Gran Reserva. We were impressed with the Imperial Gran Reserva, but after seeing the high price, we thought better to avoid it. We tasted Gran Reservas from Contina & Viña Real and thought the Viña Real had some good points. We were pleasantly surprised when we visited Viña Real for a tour a few days later that their Crianza and Reserva were very good, some of the best Crianza and Reserva we tasted from 25 wineries in La Rioja. The reason for visiting Viña Real was for the tour. It was spectacular. Having been on 10 tours in La Rioja, we were pleased to have an energetic young lady present the facilities in about a 1 hour tour in English. The production operation is different than most other La Rioja wineries. With a huge crane, they lift the fruit into the tops of the fermentation tanks to avoid any pumping. They use the same method to do what is known as the "punch-down", cycling the fruit and juice from the bottom of the tank to the top of the tank as fermentation proceeds. The fermented grape juice is separated from the "must" by gravity with the must being shoveled out of the tank when cleaning is needed. Oak barrel ageing occurs on the floor below the fermentation tanks and gravity is used to fill the oak barrels. During the ageing cycle, the barrels have to be "racked" to even out the ageing process and to remove sediments that build up. We were fortunate to see the racking operation being performed on a modern piece of equipment that does the transfer from barrel to barrel and washes out the barrel. It was fascinating to see the whole operation being performed in a matter of minutes using one machine operator and one forklift operator. Since La Rioja DOC requires bottle aging, we also visited the bottle aging room. The barrel and bottle management system is a fascinating inventory challenge considering that the winemaker is involved in the process to tweak the wines that are getting "ready to drink". The tour concluded with the tasting. Viña Real Crianza is available on the West Coast (USA) for about $15 USD and on the East Coast for under $11. A real deal. The Reserva which we found to our liking is priced accordingly a bit higher, but still represents a true value in fine La Riojana Tempranillo.

We had our hotel concierge call to confirm that we could visit the wine bar the afternoon of Nov 6…read morebecause they didn't have any tours available, which was understandable because it was last minute. When we showed up, the guard wouldn't let us in and turned us away because they didn't have enough staff to serve people. We were disappointed to say the least.

There is only one thing on the menu: Patatas Bravas. They are consistent at making this classic…read moredish very tasty. Toni has been working here for a long time and always provides great service. If the Bravas are taking a while to come, she'll usually give you some manzanilla olives. I ask for un poco mas picante (more spice) on the bravas.