Six of the best rioja wines to buy now

Happy 100th birthday, Rioja! Although, being a wine region, I don’t suppose it will receive a card from the King of Spain. 

Situated in the north of Spain, Rioja became the country’s first legally recognised wine region in 1925, and a century on it remains the most famous. It is a place of change, though. Rioja was originally famed for dry, oaky, traditional wines; then, in the Nineties, it moved to glossy, rich, vanilla-scented fruit bombs. Today, its wines are filled with freshness and complexity, and try to capture the essence of each vineyard.

Rioja expert Tim Atkin believes there’s never been a better time to buy Rioja. "You will drink as well, and arguably better, here than in any other part of Spain," he says, even comparing Rioja to Burgundy and Barolo, two of the most prized wine regions in the world.

You won’t find a bottle of Burgundy or Barolo for £6.25, but you can get Marqués de los Zancos Rioja 2024 (13%, Tesco) for that. This is Rioja at its cheeriest. Unoaked, bright and juicy, its fresh strawberry scent comes from the Tempranillo grape (literally ‘the little early one’), among the world’s most likeable grape varieties.

Tempranillo also stars in Finca Manzanos Selección de la Familia Rioja 2023 (13.5%, £12.99, Vintage by Saga). Hand-harvested and family made, this wine is rounded, plump and spicy. A generous bottle that’s wonderful with lamb, roasted veg or rich pasta dishes.

If you’re after something special, it’s worth making an effort to look for wines from the 2021 vintage, widely hailed as Rioja’s best in 20 years. El Rayo Olarra Rioja Crianza 2021 (13.5%, £12, Waitrose) is dark, brooding and hedonistic, with a silky finish.

Rioja Crianza Zugober 2021 (14%, £13.95, Corney & Barrow) is more traditional. It’s meatier, more savoury, with a hint of leather and spice from its time in oak.

By law, Crianza wines must spend at least a year in barrel and another in bottle before release. Gran Reservas go further: two years in oak and three in bottle. Which is why López de Haro Gran Reserva Rioja 2014 (14%, £23.95, Hennings Wine) has layers of fig, tobacco, cedar and mellow fruit. It tastes like a £30–£40 bottle, so at the price it's going for, it’s a steal.

Rioja isn’t just about red wine. Its whites can rival any of Spain’s blancos. The famed Viña Tondonia Rioja Gran Reserva Blanco Lopez de Heredia 2004 (12.5%, £400, Hedonism) can match the world’s finest wines, but you don’t have to spend that much.

Viña del Cura Blanco 2023 (13%, £9, Tesco – search for Tesco Finest Rioja Blanco) offers fresh lemony zest with a touch of creaminess from oak ageing.

The Rioja region’s romance with wine even has a poet. Gonzalo de Berceo, a 13th-century monk from the area, was the first to pen poetry in what we’d now call Spanish. "Bien valdrá, como creo, un vaso de bon vino," he wrote. "It will be worth, I believe, a glass of good wine." Nearly 800 years later, it still is.