The late Saturday afternoon wine tasting gracefully tumbled into drinking, as it tends to happen in Rioja. I was in the village of Alberite, in Victor Ausejo’s winery that is the size of a garage. Along with Ausejo and some friends was another winemaker, Crístofer Ruiz of Sístole.

As the wine flowed, tongues loosened. “The industrial model of Rioja isn’t working anymore,” Ausejo told me. He pointed toward a large winery down the road. “Look at them. The prices are cheap, but the wine is no good.”

Earlier, we’d toured each winemakers’ unique vineyards. Ausejo grows several hectares of whites like Garnacha Blanca—uncommon in Rioja—among his Garnacha Tinta and Carignan. Before becoming a winemaker, Ausejo worked as a plumber until the financial crisis of 2008. Now he makes wine in the overlooked subregion of Rioja Oriental, aka Rioja Baja. “We don’t come from a wine family. We’re not a dynasty,” he told me. “We aren’t making Tempranillo. We’re making whites in a small village in Rioja Baja. We sell more whites than reds. I’m sure people think, ‘What the fuck are we doing in Rioja?’”

Meanwhile, Ruiz grows the obscure local grape Maturana Tinta in a high-altitude vineyard with an elevation of 2,300 feet. “The secret of Rioja is the mountains, which create all these different microclimates.”

Smaller wineries, more emphasis on terroir, a focus on higher altitude vineyards, grape varieties beyond Tempranillo, white wines: this the new Rioja. But many would say, it’s also the old Rioja, the one that predates the current status quo. “The renaissance of Rioja is people going back to their roots,” said Ausejo. “They’re pushing against this industrial model that has been winning for years.”

Hand in hand with Rioja’s renaissance is a looming crisis, one mainly hitting the bigger players—or the “industrial model” as Ausejo says. This is the Rioja most Americans likely know, with its focus on oak aging and the traditional classifications of crianza, reserva, and gran reserva. That model came into being during the mid-20th century, after the Spanish Civil War, as traditional small cellars gave way to large cooperatives. Now, the tide is turning and there is a movement of excellent smaller wineries in the region.

“There is a whole other Rioja that came before what we know as ‘Rioja’,” says Bryan MacRobert of MacRobert and Canals, one such small winery in Logroño. 

I’ve just spent most of September in Rioja. Here are some takeaways on what I saw and experienced.

Our perceptions of Rioja are in need of serious revision.

“We have a problem within Spain, because the sommeliers think that Rioja is boring,” says Arturo de Miguel of Artuke. “But it’s not true. Rioja is many different things.” If this is a problem within Spain, imagine the problem in the U.S., where wine education about Rioja is still stuck in the crianza, reserva, gran reserva stage.

This is not to say that all the best wines in Rioja are new wave. There are plenty of great wines in the classic style. A renowned winemaker like Miguel Merino, for instance, offers both reserva wines as well as one of the most prized single-vineyard bottlings in Rioja, La Loma. But there are two realities in Rioja now.

“If Rioja is seen as a homogenous region, it’s not the fault of the consumers seeing it,” says Merino. “It’s our fault for not communicating the new reality.”

Rioja has some of the oldest vineyards in the world.

When people in most wine regions talk about “old vines,” they’re usually referring to vineyards that are around 30 to 40 years old. Old vines in Rioja are often at least twice as old. I visited with more than two dozen producers during September, and more than half had at least one vineyard with more than 100-year-old vines.

 “‘Old vine’ to me is at least 80 years old,” said Oxer Bastegieta of Oxer Wines. “Nowhere else in the world has the old vineyards that we have here in Rioja.”

Rioja’s white wines keep getting better. And keep an eye out for red wines that aren’t made from Tempranillo.

“In the old days, there were a lot more white wines, and much more varietal differentiation,” MacRobert told me.

Tempranillo is still king, accounting for 88 percent of the region’s grapes. But plantings of Garnacha, Mazuelo (what Riojans call Carignan), and Graciano are all on the rise. Arturo de Miguel at Artuke, for instance, told me he’s planning to plant significantly more Graciano over the next 20 years. Even once-forgotten local grapes such as Maturana Tinta are being recovered by producers such as Elena Corzana. We’re seeing a number of single-varietal bottlings of all three, though Rioja remains best-known for its blends.

As for the whites—such as Viura, Malvasia, and Garnacha Blanca—I’ve said this before: Rioja could be the world’s next great white wine region. After a month of tasting great ageworthy whites from Abel Mendoza, Remírez de Ganuza, Gómez Cruzado, and many others, I remain convinced.

But even more fascinating is how many producers—such as Artuke, Oxer, Tentenublo, and many others—are now using white grapes in the red blends. As we move deeper into the climate change era, a bit of white grapes in the red blends may be key to keeping Rioja reds fresh and full of acidity.

Rioja has a great, underrated restaurant scene.

It’s not all about wine: Every top wine region needs great restaurants to match. My favorite in the region has always been Restaurante Alameda, in the village of Fuenmayor, about 15 minutes from Logroño. Voted the best traditional restaurant in all of Spain, Chef Tomás Fernández’s asador turns out amazing chuleta steak, but also intricate grilled seafood dishes.

But Alameda is only the tip of the iceberg. I had great meals at Ajonegro and Tondeluna in Logroño, Nublo in Haro, and Bodega Pimiento in the village of Tirgo. And perhaps my favorite meal of the month was at an adorable five-table restaurant in the hilltop town of Clavijo called Casa Tila, an arrocería focused on inventive paella-like rice dishes: rabbit and snails; venison and shrimp; blood sausage, pig’s ear, and chickpea. And Casa Tila has a great wine list of new-wave local wines. 

It’s the perfect blend of old-school and new-school Rioja.