Briones is one of Spain’s most beautiful medieval villages and is also home to the superb Vivanco bodega-museum. Named after a local Rioja word that means ‘to scrape the plate clean’, ‘allegar’ is the perfect way to define the approach to food at this restaurant inside the Santa María Briones hotel, where the culinary focus is on an updated take on Rioja cooking, featuring intense flavours and even the occasional hint of trompe-l’oeil. They propose a unique ‘Journey through La Rioja’, which can be experienced in the form of three set menus: À la carte tasting menu (a sort of fixed-price menu, every day for dinner), the Short Trip (El Viaje Corto) and the Long Trip (El Viaje Largo), with these last two only available from Thursday to Sunday. The restaurant is also home to an old and typical wine cellar, known locally as a ‘calado’.