Our love affair with Spanish wines continues. In both volume and value the UK is the country’s largest market for still wine, ahead of the US and Germany, and it’s easy to see why: the products are enjoyable and consistent. Our supermarkets are awash with juicy and well-priced riojas such as Sainsbury’s rich, oaky 2018 Taste the Difference Rioja Reserva (£9.50), or the supple 2021 Cepa Lebrel Rioja Crianza from Lidl (£5.99). Meanwhile, independent merchants offer intriguing buys such as the 2022 Finca Navahermosa Sol Tempranillo (The Leamington Wine Company, £10.99). Then there’s good-value party fizz: take Lidl’s toasty Arestel Cava Brut, a £5.45 sparkler worth at least £8.
These are obvious pleasures, but if you look closer it’s the sheer range of grapes and styles to be found in Spain that is perhaps so exciting, with up to 600 grape varieties grown in more than 60 main wine regions. Consider the fresh, succulent reds produced in northwestern regions such as Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras and Bierzo, where the cabernet franc-aping mencia grape thrives. Try the silky, floral 2021 Cuatro Pasos Bierzo (Laithwaites, £14.99).
Towards the Catalan border in the east, where regions such as Aragon, Priorat and Penedès are known for their smooth reds, there are a handful of producers creating white wines of astonishing concentration from old vines planted on slate soils. These aren’t the easiest to unearth and by the time they reach our shores can be quite expensive, but they are well worth investigation. Here are six of the best buys from around Spain.
2021 Los Tontos Sabios Red Field Blend (13.5%)
Waitrose, £8.99
An organic blend from vines south of Madrid, this is a smooth and juicy midweek quaffer full of brambly fruit.
2022 Bodegas Volver Tarima Monastrell (14%)
Majestic, £9.99
From grapes planted at high altitude in Alicante, this delivers lashings of plum and cherry, with an intense finish.
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2022 Taste the Difference Albariño (12.5%)
Sainsbury’s, £11
A crisp, peachy, searingly dry albariño with good depth of flavour and a creamy texture. Perfect with seafood paella.
2021 Altolandon Bobal Manchuela (13.5%)
The Wine Society, £11.50
Deliciously easy-drinking, this vivacious, floral bobal from Valencia brims with cherry and spice.
2021 Almanova Mencia Ribeira Sacra (13%)
Cambridge Wine Merchants, £17.99
A succulent and richly flavoured mencia with crunchy dark fruit and savoury clove.
2019 Clos Berenguer del Molar Blanc de Botes (13%)
Raeburn Fine Wines, £23.99
This is outstanding: a powerful, complex, sherry-like white with refined toasty notes of almond.
Will’s pick from The Sunday Times Wine Club
2021 Pica Zabal Rioja Blanco Organic (13%)
£16.99
An interesting white rioja that combines a creamy, herbaceous flavour with some zip from a drop of sauvignon blanc and maturana blanca.
