Dissed in Barcelona

Just back from Barcelona and San Sebastian - sorry for the infrequent posting.  A quick story from our trip regarding Rioja wine.  We had an amazing meal at a restaurant in Barcelona, one of the best meals of our trip.  One of the wines we had chosen, La Rioja Alta Reserve 1998, really impressed us.   Deep oaky flavors, nice tannin, great aging potential at a very affordable price. The next day, we were walking around Barcelona and stumbled into a nice looking wine shop.   We walked around and found this wine in the store for $22 Euros - great compared to the restaurant price. I snatched a bottle to bring back to NYC.  Upon bringing it to the register, the shop owner proceeded to give me a ten minute lecture about how this was an old fashioned Rioja, not made in the modern style.  It was inferior and the old school wine making techniques were an embarrassment to other up and coming Spanish wine regions. He then tried to convince me to select an alternative at the same or lesser price.  I couldn't help thinking that I really enjoyed this wine.  While its interesting to compare wine making styles, if I liked this wine then that's good enough for me. I told him no thanks, and he told me not to hold it up as an example of Spanish wine when I got back to the U.S.  But I will anyway, because it was excellent!