I recently had a bottle of 2015 Olivier Rivière Rioja Blanco Jequitibá 13.5% which was tasty and mineral, with good body, perhaps slightly lacking in acidity. The oak seemed more noticeable through smoothness than flavor, but someone more knowledgeable about white Rioja told me that Viúra can be like that.
As for the dude being a Frenchman on Spanish soil, if there's a tradition of Frenchmen in Rioja, it's just part of the terroir. If there isn't, then it isn't.
