LOGRONO, Spain — Here in the midst of the historic bodegas, many of them more than 100 years old, a new Rioja emerges. The wines of modern Rioja are fresh and bold, layered with ripe fruit aromas and the sweet spices of new French and American oak. They are the breakaway wines of a region in transition.

Traditional Rioja has languished for decades, a prisoner of the past, or perhaps a victim of its own success. Long the most important and formidable of Spanish wines, Rioja has lo ...

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