Our Selección Especial Numerada range is reserved for some very special one-off parcels of wines where our Buyer for Spain has negotiated a great-deal price in exchange for winery anonymity. That’s exactly what you have here and this magnificent Gran Reserva Rioja has all the credentials. It’s pure, old-vine Tempranillo, which accounts for this great wine’s incredible intensity. Ageing for over two years in a mix of tight-grained French oak barrels and more opulently vanilla-scented American oak, and finished with over 30 months ageing in bottle, has lent layers of mesmirising complexity and length. This is a wine to savour – an ideal wine to save with slow-roasted lamb shoulder, game dishes or exotic mushroom tapas.

Love red wines with easy fruit and elegance? This Joven (young) Rioja is a must-try. We’ve known the Bujanda family since 1984, when they completed their state-of-the-art winery. In fact, we were the first to introduce their wines to the UK. Four decades later, their cellar remains one of the finest in Europe, with a trophy cabinet full of awards and a top winemaker at the helm – Lauren Rosillo. This Joven is from the family’s beautiful Finca Valpiedra estate, whose vineyard is nestled in a bend of the Ebro river. Made entirely from estate-grown Tempranillo and aged for a year in bottle, it’s silky with bright strawberry and blackberry fruit. Smooth enough to sip solo, or pair with tapas, charcuterie or game.

Pure Tempranillo Rioja Crianza with silky, bright berry fruits and lightly toasty oak notes, making a perfect match for tapas dishes, a rice pilaf or grilled meats. Rioja’s Luis Alegre bodega was founded in 1968, just west of the village of Laguardia. It now boasts 52 hectares of vineyards in some prime spots of Rioja Alavesa, many of those ancient bush vines. Planted largely on limestone soils on sites protected from the cold northerly winds by the Cantabrian mountains, the vines produce ripe, intensely flavoured grapes with great freshness. They also pride themselves on promoting biodiversity and sustainability, as you may guess when looking at the wine’s label. This is their fine Crianza from vines over 50 years old. All Tempranillo, the wine was aged for 14 months in a mix of French and American oak barrels.

Savour an elegant yet vibrant, silky, hand-crafted Tempranillo Graciano blend – with all the quality you'd expect from the brilliant Bryan Currie, and terrific quality grapes from cool-climate Hilltops, a region Bryan Currie knows extremely well.

Treat yourself to a multi-Gold, 97pt very appealing Tempranillo from the dynamic Zonte's Footstep team. Madrugador means 'early riser' in Spanish, a reference to the early ripening Tempranillo variety. It makes a delicious partner served with lamb cutlets! “This is fruit forward and inviting with dark plum, blueberry, rich floral and warm spice aromas on the nose, leading to a generously weighted palate offering succulent fruit intensity backed by fine, grainy tannins. Sturdy and bold with a persistent structured finish. 93pt” (Sam Kim, Wine Orbit). For Aaron Brasher in The Real Review it offers: " Lifted and evocative aromas of mulberry, dark cherry, cola, spice and sarsaparilla. Brooding and powerful on the palate, lashings of dark fruits, licorice, sour cherry and cedar. Bright, crunchy acidity and grippy, granular tannins round the wine out very nicely. 92pts".