Tempranillo — a grape we can’t get enough of and the top wines to pick

, The Times

Not that you’d know it, as its name seldom appears on the label, but tempranillo is Spain’s most widely planted red grape, responsible for some of the country’s most revered wines, such as rioja and ribera del duero, plus a host of lesser Castilla y Leon and La Mancha reds. Last year we drank a whopping 33 million bottles, worth more than £240 million, making it the only red wine in growth.

Tempranillo is low on fruit, yet long on tannin, acidity, body and alcohol. Even so, young tempranillo, regardless of region, displays the sort of juicy, tangy, easy-swigging, spiced plum and sweet strawberry charge that impecunious drinkers love. Give good tempranillo some reserva age and you get more black and red fruit scents, with extra dollops of savoury, herby and usually oaky spice. Finally, with long ageing up to rioja’s gran reserva level, tempranillo takes on some dreamy fig, cinnamon, sweet tobacco and scented leather notes.

• English and Welsh reds: the critic’s top picks

Bowled over by the quality of the Wine Society’s lovely Cillar de Silos (see star buy), made from high-altitude, low-yielding 35-year-old tempranillo in Ribera del Duero, I quizzed its Spanish wine buyer, Harriet Kininmonth, on the grape. “While tempranillo is a noble grape, it’s versatile too, capable of delivering at every price point and clearly at the forefront of the Spanish wine revolution,” she said.

Certainly, I have tasted more polished and refined tempranillo of late than in previous decades. And not just from Spain: tempranillo-led reds in the Douro, in Portugal, where the grape is known as tinta roriz, and further south, where it’s known as aragonez, have been a real success story in the past decade. Check out the luscious, floral 2024 Pinta Negra, a vinho regional Lisboa, made from aragonez with a good wallop of castelao, all bright, bold, red berry charm (thewinesociety.com, £7.95).

It’s red rioja that tempranillo-drinking woodheads just cannot get enough of, and if that’s you, try Aldi’s mature, savoury, tobacco leaf-scented 2018 Specially Selected Rioja Gran Reserva (£9.99). Or the 2021 Marqués de Riscal Reserva, from one of the oldest houses, founded in 1858, that spent 20 months in American oak barriques resulting in a wonderfully bright, bold, herby red bursting with cinnamon, plum and coffee bean spice (Tesco, £16). If that’s too much, nab Aldi’s lovely 2024 Specially Selected Ribera del Duero for just £8.99 — again not the big, burnt, rustic bruiser that this region used to produce but instead a vivid crimson purple, fat, silky sip, overflowing with cigar box spice.

Tempranillo stars2024 Toro Loco Tempranillo-Bobal, Utiel-Requena

Spain, 12.5 per cent, Aldi, £5.29
Cheer up a dull day with this young, juicy, tempranillo-led blend crammed with zesty, tangy, red cherry fruit.

2024 Dos Oro Leones Tempranillo

Spain, 14 per cent, Morrisons, £7.50, down from £12
Get a lot of bang for your buck with this sweet, spicy, dark plum-fruited tempranillo from Castilla y Leon.

2021 Cillar de Silos Crianza, Ribera del Duero

Spain, 14 per cent, thewinesociety.com, £18.50
New era, elegant, polished, Ribera del Duero red, with masses of seductive, rich, beefy, bramble pizzazz.

2021 Orben Rioja

Spain, 14.5 per cent, thegrapevariety.com, £35
Dazzling, great vintage rioja, made from 70-year-old vines, brimming with fat, savoury, spiced leather fruit.

Star buys Four bottles of white wine. Pierre Jaurant Sauvignon Blanc

France, 11 per cent, Aldi, £4.85
A new blend from the summer edition, with lots of fresh, grapey, verdant fruit, plus a punchy, food-friendly finish.

2024 Gavi

Italy, 12 per cent, Lidl, £7.69
Part of Lidl’s core range so everyone should be able to nab this pale, dry, elegant Italian with its subtle herby style.

2024 Devil’s Corner Chardonnay

Tasmania, Australia, 13 per cent, Tesco, £13.50, down from £15
Classy, French oak-aged Aussie chardonnay from the Brown family, with easy-quaffing, bright, appley charm.

2023 Taste the Difference, Petit Chablis

France, 12.5 per cent, Sainsbury’s, £15
A mouth-wateringly crisp, racy, elegant lemon zest petit chablis that is every bit as good as chablis.