Great value Rioja with high scores: 12 to try

Evolved aromas on the initial nose unfold onto a palate that's lively and fresh. Dried cranberries, granite and forest floor characters are beginning to show underneath tart cherry and raspberry fruit. There's a lifted, volatile note to the aromatics, with a flinty, stony undertone. With its high acidity and slightly saline, iodine finish, this is a delicious example of the diversity of Rioja.

South African Bryan MacRobert is behind the Laventura wines which he makes in a small cellar in Logroño from small parcels of old vine fruit. The Garnacha (90%) and Tempranillo (10%) for this bright, unoaked Rioja comes from dry-farmed vineyards across Rioja's trio of sub-regions. It’s a striking red colour with ripe redcurrant and raspberry fruit on the nose. There’s a touch of black pepper spice on the palate and a sophisticated juicy finish. A very modern Rioja.

A rather special Rioja red made with 100% Graciano. The indigenous variety gives the wine a nose of sour cherry and earthy sweet herbs. Aged in American oak barrels for 15 months, it has a vibrant palate of red cherry, vanilla and assorted sweet spices, lifted by decent acidity and a solid tannin backbone.

Made from 100% Tempranillo grapes hand-harvested from vineyards around the town of Haro, the wine is aged in French and American oak for 18 months. The 2017 vintage proved difficult, compounded by both frost and drought, with yields down by almost 25% throughout the entire region. But the resulting wine is full of intense flavours of blackcurrants, black cherries and a peppery spice. A great value Rioja that ticks many boxes.