Stage A: Circular Valle de Iregua
Distance: 53 / 39 km   Unevenness: 740 / 280 m

Stage B: Logroño - Laguardia
Distance: 47 / 32 km   Unevenness: 550 / 435 m

Stage C: Circular Laguardia - Rioja Alta
Distance: 66 / 30 km   Unevenness: 810 / 505 m

Stage D: Laguardia - Logroño
Distance: 52 / 23 km   Unevenness: 935 / 215 m

Valle del Iregua

We begin the day gaining elevation above Logroño through the facilities of Bodegas Campoviejo. Already immersed in the first "sea of vineyards" of the day, we arrive in Fuenmayor via the old path that connects this town with Logroño.

After a comfortable section between the monumental towns of Fuenmayor and Navarrete, we cross the Camino de Santiago in the latter and, without a clear transition, we enter the lands of the Iregua where the 2nd part of the stage takes place.

The vineyards now allow other crops and activities to intersperse in the landscape and cease to monopolize everything. We thus enter what we sometimes call Iregua Valley, we anglicize it even in spanish due to the reminiscence of American National Parks that the landscape evokes in us. The vertical cliffs of Peña Bajenza and Portal de Cameros give the definitive character to the stage.

Once we reach the banks of the Iregua, the ancient Roman Road that connected Soria with Logroño will guide us back to the end of the stage in the capital of La Rioja.

If we opt for the SLOW route option, the essential difference will be that we will eliminate the initial 17 kilometers between Logroño and Navarrete and replace them with the Camino de Santiago section that connects these points.

Meanders of the Ebro

Today's stage zigzags upstream following the rhythm of the Ebro's meanders and the hardworking vineyards lined up on its stony soils.

Standing out for its exaggerated curvature on the map is the Viña Lanciano estate, one of the "singular vineyards" of Bodegas LAN. It shares geography with the medieval -perhaps Roman- bridge of Mantilbe, a construction that crossed the Ebro at this point - its current state prevents its function.

We change banks in Lapuebla de Labarca, a place name that tells us about the ferry that for years was located there performing the functions that the bridge now replacing it does. Leaving behind the last streets of the town, we head back to the riverbanks and tackle a long section (12 km) of powerful isolation that ends "abruptly" with the sudden appearance of the Town of Elciego and the Guggenheim-esque Marqués de Riscal Winery, one of the earliest in La Rioja, which well deserves a visit. In the background, on a higher level and away from the river basin, the end of the stage looms imposingly in the form of the "Walled Town of Laguardia".

Rioja Alta

This circular stage starting in LAGUARDIA extends the geographical area covered by FUENTES DEL VINO LAGUARDIA well to the west.

A rapid descent towards the bridge that connects the wine towns of Elciego and Cenicero deposits us at the bottom of the basin. If we were to "baptize" today's itinerary, it's very likely that the chosen name would be "Vineyards of the Ebro". And for good reason, for more than 40 kilometers (unless we choose the SLOW option) the curves of the Ebro's meanders will also be ours.

We will "pivot" around Davalillo Castle - the true beacon of the stage - first along the southern bank to the medieval town of Briones, and after crossing the river again in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, we will take the northern bank to Baños de Ebro, passing through one of the most sparsely populated areas of the basin.

In our advance we will have left behind a practically uncountable number of vineyards, wineries, shepherds' huts and the Vivanco Museum in Briones, one of the largest in the world in terms of wine-related themes.

From Baños de Ebro onwards, the track moves decisively away from the river, ascending towards the slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria to, via the towns of Villabuena de Álava, Leza and Páganos, return to the walled watchtower of LAGUARDIA.

Rioja Alavesa, Sierra de Cantabria

The slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria encompass the territory that hosts practically all the kilometers of this final stage, which runs almost entirely through Rioja Alavesa.

Small terraced vineyards "terroirs" adapt to the complicated morphology generated by the ravines that descend from the mountain range. From this complexity and the multitude of microclimates it generates arises the possibility of "playing" with the modern concept of single vineyard and author wines that characterize today's oenology.

La Huesera, La Hechicera and El Encinar, the 3 dolmens, which almost unintentionally the track links together, reinforce backwards in time the historical sequence initiated in the architectural contemporaneity of modern wineries and continued in the homogeneous medieval profile present in all the towns we pass through. Elvillar, Kripan, Viñaspre, Yécora, the monumental Labraza... Demanding sequence of town-valley town-valley that makes the stage sportingly have a PLUS over the previous stages of FUENTES DEL VINO - LAGUARDIA. In our favor is the detail that all the valleys we cross allow us to "escape" -if our strength falters- southwards and downhill, towards the end of the stage in LOGROÑO.

Stage A: Circular Valle de Iregua
Distance: 147 / 106 km   Unevenness: 1.050 / 965 m

Stage B: Logroño - Laguardia
Distance: 148 / 90 km   Unevenness: 2.235 / 1.960 m

Stage C: Circular Laguardia Valle del Ebro
Distance: 123 / 103 km   Unevenness: 1.325 / 1.225 m

Stage D: Laguardia - Logroño
Distance: 158 / 82 km   Unevenness: 2.445 / 1.285 m

Rioja Oriental, Riberia

The territory through which stage A of our route runs has come to be known literarily as Riberia, an imaginary but real "country", half Navarre half Rioja, with a shared culture and lifestyles arising from the vital potential that emanates from the Ebro River and that shapes and gives character to life on its banks.

In sporting terms, a rolling stage with brief undulations -never significant- that will activate our legs just enough to tackle the slopes of the stages to come.

Cameros Range

With the Alto de Clavijo to "warm up" and the 1,475 meters altitude of the Moncalvillo Pass (948 meters of elevation gain) to "finish off", this stage B is without a doubt the Queen Stage of FUENTES del VINO - LAGUARDIA.

After the long descent to the lowest point of the stage at the bridge over the Ebro in Lapuebla de Labarca, we must still have saved some strength to ascend to the end of the stage at the high point where the walled town of Laguardia majestically sits.

The Valley of Language

Stage with "saturation" of vineyards in the landscape -the wine stage par excellence of FUENTES del VINO - LAGUARDIA- compensated and complemented by 2 first-order historical monuments such as the Monasteries (Old and New) of San Millán de la Cogolla, and the striking Church/Castle complex of the walled town of San Vicente de la Sonsierra.
RIOJA in its purest state.

Montaña Alavesa

Stage with a differentiated personality due to the character that Montaña Alavesa imparts on it. Once we overcome the demanding Herrera pass, we enter a different world where we replace vineyards with beech and oak forests.

Having started the stage in Rioja Alavesa, a good part of its kilometers run through the neighboring Community of Navarra, and when we reach the end of the stage in Logroño, we will be in the capital of La Rioja. Thus we will travel through 3 Autonomous Communities across which we will have distributed the 82 kilometers of the route.