Rioja is one of Spain’s most celebrated wine regions, renowned for producing versatile reds that balance fruit, oak and age-worthy structure. From bright, youthful crianzas to complex reservas and gran reservas, Rioja offers a style to suit every occasion and budget. Tempranillo is the star grape, often blended with garnacha or graciano to add depth and character.
Wine writer Jonathan Hatchman taste tested a range of bottles to find the very best rioja to buy now, starting at a bargain £8.59 a bottle and ranging up to £40 for an extra-special vintage. Whether you’re planning a dinner party, looking for a gift for a wine lover or simply restocking your wine rack, these are the rioja wines worth seeking out.
For more expert taste tested wine reviews, check out our guides to the best prosecco, best champagne and best malbec.
Best rioja wines at a glance
- Best introduction to rioja: Barón de Barbón Oak Aged Rioja 2024, £10.99
- Best powerful rioja: Altos R Gran Reserva Rioja 2018, £25
- Best everyday rioja: Castillo Labastida Rioja Crianza 2021, £15.99
- Best white rioja: Viña Monty Rioja Viura 2018, £40.50
- Best Gran Reserva: Finca Manzanos x VirginWines 25th Anniversary Rioja Gran Reserva 2010, £39.99
- Best budget rioja: Definition by Majestic ‘Viña Majestica’ Rioja Reserva 2021, £15.50
- Best traditional rioja: Bodegas Palacio Glorioso Reserva 2020, £17
- Best everyday rioja: Dinastia del Castillo Rioja DOCa Tempranillo Spain 2024, £8.59
Best rioja wines to buy in 2026
Barón de Barbón Oak Aged Rioja 2024
- Available from Laithwaites (£10.99)
Best introduction to rioja
Star rating: 4/5
ABV: 13.5%
Father-and-son team Javier and Julián Murúa began producing wine during the 1980s and now own several wineries. The pair have become particularly renowned for their Barón de Barbón oak aged rioja, which has become hugely popular in the UK over the past twenty years, and unsurprisingly so given its great value, showcasing old-vine tempranillo from the Alavesa region.
The 2024 vintage is a particularly easy-going wine, rife with bright red and blackberry alongside some feint vanilla, spice and tobacco savours. What’s most notable is the smoothness, with very subtle oak notes and a silky, lingering finish.
Available from:
Laithwaites (£10.99)
Altos R Gran Reserva Rioja 2018
- Available from Laithwaites (£25)
Best powerful rioja
Star rating: 4/5
ABV: 14%
Altos R is a project from Jean-Marc Sauboua, inspired by his Spanish heritage. With a focus on rioja, the aim was to produce elegant wines in the style of Grand Cru claret.
For Altos R’s first Gran Reserva, grapes were selected from ancient vines and carefully fermented, aged in French oak barriques kept filled to the brim to lend a fresher style. The result is a rich, elegant wine that’s bold with notes of raspberry, plum, cherry and baking spices alongside creamy oak tannins which add complexity, plus just a hint of both liquorice and leather. Lively and very well-rounded with a smooth finish.
Available from:
Laithwaites (£25)
Castillo Labastida Rioja Crianza 2021
- Available from Laithwaites (£15.99)
Best everyday rioja
Star rating: 3.5/5
ABV: 14%
Castillo Labastida takes its name from the medieval village where the winery is based, in Rioja Alavesa, a region renowned for its pebbly limestone soil and tiny vineyards. High altitude and cool mountain breezes contribute to slower ripening and wines that are typically elegant and fruity.
The Castillo Labastida Rioja Crianza 2021, for instance, is a textbook crianza, aged for a year in oak then a further three years in the bottle. Ripe blackberry and cherry dominate on the palate, joined by slight oakiness and a very pleasant whisper of toasted coconut. Silky and medium-bodied with a smooth, long finish.
Available from:
Laithwaites (£15.99)
Viña Monty Rioja Viura 2018
- Available from Waitrose Cellar (£40.50)
Best white rioja
Star rating: 4.5/5
ABV: 13%
The Viña Monty Rioja Viura 2018 is a very serious, polished and considerably accessible white rioja, compared to some of its closest competitors. Produced by Bodegas Montecillo, one of the oldest wineries in Rioja, the wine comprises 100 per cent viura (aka macabeo), aged for 18 months in semi-new French oak, followed by at least 20 months in the bottle.
The result is a rich, complex oak-aged white rioja with gorgeous quince and baked apple aromas alongside vanilla, pastry, baking spices, light minerality and a delightful herbaceous note. With a long and slightly savoury finish, this particular wine is more full-bodied than typical white rioja, with subtle oak tannins and balanced acidity, great on its own but even better when paired with food.
Available from:
Waitrose Cellar (£40.50)
Finca Manzanos x Virgin Wines 25th Anniversary Rioja Gran Reserva 2010
- Available from Virgin Wines (£39.99)
Best gran reserva
Star rating: 4.5/5
ABV: 13.5%
To celebrate Virgin Wines’ 25th anniversary, a very special stash of Finca Manzanos’ 2010 Gran Reserva has been released. Widely considered to be one of the century’s best rioja vintages, winemaker Victor Fernandez de Manzanos reserved a portion of his 2010 Gran Reserva, certain it would age beautifully, which it has.
The wine has complex notes of prune, plum and black cherry alongside vanilla, cocoa, a hint of tobacco and leather and a slight smoky backbone. The finish is long and gently spiced, with a smooth, exceptionally well rounded texture and soft integrated tannins. Virgin Wines also recommends double decanting to really maximise the flavours of this special release.
Available from:
Virgin Wines (£39.99)
Definition by Majestic ‘Viña Majestica’ Rioja Reserva 2021
- Available from Majestic (£15.50)
Best budget rioja
Star rating: 4/5
ABV: 15%
With history dating back to 1890, Rioja Alta is the winery behind this particular wine, produced especially for Majestic at their base in Haro. Hand-harvested tempranillo grapes grown 500 metres above sea level are used, with the wine aged in American oak barriques for two years, then longer in the bottle to earn a Reserva classification.
Loads of ripe strawberry, raspberry, plum, cherry are present on the nose and on the palate, complete with some roasted hazelnut oak influence and a touch of coffee. Soft, supple with medium tannins and moderate acidity, this is a very easy-drinking rioja with good oak integration.
Available from:
Majestic (£15.50)
Bodegas Palacio Glorioso Rioja Reserva 2020
- Available from Ocado (£17)
Best traditional rioja
Star rating: 4/5
ABV: 14%
One of Rioja’s older wineries, founded in 1894, Bodegas Palacio is dedicated to producing classic rioja styles, with the cooler climate and moderate rainfall in Rioja Alavesa giving the wines their trademark freshness and elegance. The Glorioso Reserva 2020 is made using the finest vine tempranillo grapes and aged for 36 months, for at least one year in American and French oak barrels.
Bold dark cherry and plum aromas are joined by dried fruit hints of fig, prune and raisin, plus vanilla and some spiciness. With a smooth, slightly sweet-fruited core and good oak integration, the wine has a gently savoury finish and balanced acidity, which makes it perfect for pairing with a wide variety of foods.
Available from:
Ocado (£17)
Dinastia del Castillo Rioja DOCa Tempranillo Spain 2024
- Available from Warehouse Wines (£8.59)
Best everyday rioja
Star rating: 3.5/5
ABV: 13.5%
When it comes to easy-drinking, accessible, fruit-forward rioja, this is a good option, boasting great value. Young and very lightly oaked, the Dinastia del Castillo Rioja DOCa Tempranillo 2024 has classic young tempranillo notes of cherry, plum and just a whisper of strawberry, plus subtle spiciness and just a feint hint of vanilla. The tannins are very soft and the medium acidity keeps this light-medium bodied wine lively on the palate, complete with a slightly dry finish with a welcome earthiness. Not especially complex, but great when you’re after a low-cost, low-stress rioja.
Available from:
Warehouse Wines (£8.59)
Why rioja?
By Henry Jeffreys
Compared with, say, Bordeaux, rioja was consumer friendly with distinctive brand names, attractive packaging, and an easy to understand hierarchy: crianza, the youngest wines, followed by reserva and gran reserva at the top. The Spanish, unlike the French, did the ageing for you. The region was (and largely still is) dominated by large companies who usually blended across Rioja’s three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Oriental (Baja), Rioja Alavesa, ensuring a consistent product. The wines were a blend of grapes too: mainly tempranillo and garnacha (grenache) with others playing a supporting role such as graciano, mazuelo (carignan) and even some white varieties. The resulting wines were usually pale red from ageing in American oak which brought flavours of coconut, tobacco and walnuts. These old school wines are still made and, at their best, they are some of the finest wines in the world; at worst they are dull, formulaic and taste largely of wood.
Things changed in the ‘90s, when some producers began to ape modern Bordeaux. Pale grenache was out, dark-coloured heavily-extracted tempranillo was in; out went the old American barrels, in came new French barriques. The resulting wines laden with concentrated flavours of blackcurrant, spice and firm tannins needed time in bottle to soften but the wines were usually released much younger than in the past. After suitable ageing, the best of these modern wines could be very good indeed, if not that distinctive, but the not so good ones were aggressive and not a lot of fun to drink.
Now, there’s a third style which we’ll call new wave. These are often wines from a single sub-region, even a single vineyard. The oak is in the background and the emphasis is on freshness rather than power; think crunchy fruit and herbal notes. These are joyful irresistible wines and, best of all, this emphasis on freshness has spread across the whole region. There are fewer tired fruitless old fashioned wines, or over-muscular bruisers.
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What do you think? Do you have a favourite rioja? We’d love to hear from you below…
