Paella and the Overlooked Glory of White Rioja

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Paella invites a pitcher of something cold and forgettable. It deserves better. The dish layers saffron, smoked paprika, sofrito, seafood or rabbit, and the caramelised crust of rice at the bottom of the pan, the socarrat, that everyone fights over. It needs a wine with weight, texture and a little savouriness of its own.

Why White Rioja

Rioja is famous for red, but its whites, built mainly on Viura and often blended with Malvasía or Garnacha Blanca, are some of Spain’s most rewarding wines. Fresher styles bring citrus and almond; barrel-aged reservas add a nutty, savoury depth. Both handle saffron better than a lean, aromatic white, and neither carries the tannin that clashes with shellfish.

That texture is what matters. The wine has the body to meet rice cooked in rich stock and the acidity to refresh the palate between mouthfuls of prawn and mussel.

At the Table

For seafood paella, serve the wine cool, around 10°C (50°F). For a Valencian paella with chicken and rabbit, let a barrel-aged white warm slightly to 12°C (54°F), so its savoury side opens up.

The Bottles

Bodegas Muga Blanco 2025

From one of Haro’s great traditional houses, a bright, lightly barrel-fermented white for a seafood paella on the terrace. Shop it at Wine.com.

Bodegas Muga Flor de Muga Reserva Blanco 2022

The house’s more ambitious white, with the depth and texture to take on a pan of rabbit, chicken and socarrat. Shop it at Wine.com.

One Rule

Never stir the paella, and never serve its wine too cold.

The Pairing is Santé’s daily column on one dish and the wine that makes it better. A new pairing every evening.