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• Rioja
  Rioja

  noun

  a table wine, especially a dry red wine, from the Rioja region of northern Spain.
• rioja
  rioja

  noun

  a red or white wine, with a distinctive vanilla bouquet and flavour, produced around the Ebro river in central N Spain

Rioja

American  

[ree-oh-hah, ree-aw-hah] / riˈoʊ hɑ, riˈɔ hɑ /

noun

1. a table wine, especially a dry red wine, from the Rioja region of northern Spain.

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rioja British  

/ riːˈəʊxə /

noun

1. a red or white wine, with a distinctive vanilla bouquet and flavour, produced around the Ebro river in central N Spain

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Etymology

Origin of rioja

C20: from La Rioja , the area where it is produced

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Rioja rioja

He even offered examples from his own wife, including that Rioja smells like a pirate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

Though a fork and knife make one feel civilized while digging into the roast, this ruby glass of Rioja Alta doesn’t hurt.

From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025

The seven registered voters of Villaroya, a small village in the La Rioja province, beat their own previous record of 32 seconds.

From BBC ● May 28, 2023

He said 51 regulated research and development projects are currently taking place around the country, including Cannava in Jujuy province, Agrogenetica Riojana in La Rioja, Biofabrica in Misiones and Medicinal Cannabis in San Juan.

From Reuters ● Mar. 8, 2023

There are lots of nights out in Berlin when, emboldened by a good-value Rioja, I forget my physical predicament and allow myself to hope.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Opponents had a better chance of being served a glass of rioja during a hydration break than finding the back of the Spanish net.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Some governments, particularly in Europe, designated appellations—strictly circumscribed regions with rules on how and where a varietal such as burgundy, rioja or barolo was legally allowed to grow and be produced.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023

Other included words like chorizo, rioja, poke, croissant, gnocchi, pierogi and pae de quiero most definitely make sense, though.

From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2022

To complete the weekly five wine picks, we also have some worthwhile bottles: an excellent red blend from southern France, a young, vibrant rioja from Spain and a delicious sauvignon blanc from New Zealand.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2020

We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway