La Rioja, an autonomous community comprising a single province, is the third smallest region of Spain in terms of population and the fifth for area, with 5 034 square kilometres. Lying between the industrialized north and the agricultural regions of Castile to the south and Aragón to the east, Rioja extends along the middle valley of the River Ebro. Some 49% of the region's total population lives in the capital, Logroño, which had about 136 800 inhabitants at the first of January 2002.
The north of the region, which is a major producer of wine, has an average altitude of around 385 metres with rich soil suitable for fruit and vegetables, and is linked by motorway with the ports of Bilbao and Barcelona (150 and 470 km, respectively from Logroño). The south, which has poorer communications, has a wide variety of woodland and is fairly mountainous, rising to more than 2 100 m with the peaks of San Lorenzo and Cebollera. The climate is continental, with mild temperatures and an average rainfall of 427 mm at Logroño.