Tierra Hermosa 20° (Veinte Grados) 2010, Andalucia

Today’s Guardian column was all about getting out of your wine drinking rut which in the case of Spanish wine most likely means Rioja.

In fact there are a wealth of other wine regions in Spain which offer rewarding drinking, one of them being Andalucia.

I wouldn’t have known about Tierra Hermosa had it not been for the British owner Harry Hunt who badgered me (in the nicest possible way) to taste his wines and write about them. I wouldn’t have done so of course if I hadn’t liked them - or at least not in such enthusiastic terms - but fortunately I do.

Although further south than regions like Rioja and Navarra the Hunts’ vineyards, which are situated to the south of Alhama de Granada, amongst the Sierra Tejeda mountains, are unusually high at an altitude of 1200 metres which gives their wines a delicious freshness.

The Tierra Hermosa 20° a blend of Tempranillo, Syrah and Garnacha has an exotic dark fruit character that would make a good pairing for the Moorish food of the region - and that of North Africa opposite. I could imagine drinking it with a lamb tagine or with Iberico pork but in fact it’s flexible enough to adapt to all kinds of dishes - the acidity would make it a good choice with Italian food too.

There’s also a straight tempranillo called Neblerio which is perfectly enjoyable but not as complex IMO though, like the 20*, it won a gold medal in Canada’s Intervin wine awards last year.

Both are imported by Moreno Wines and widely availble in independents including Corks of Cotham and Grape & Grind in Bristol, Fingal Rock in Monmouth, Hanging Ditch in Manchester and Red Squirrel Wines online (see full list of stockists here). The Veinte Grados costs about £9.95.

Cune Gran Reserva Rioja Imperial 2005

It’s easy to overlook the familiar in favour of the esoteric, particularly when you’re a wine writer but it’s hard to think of a bottle that consistently gives more pleasure than Cune’s Gran Reserva Imperial Rioja.

OK, it’s not cheap but even the recommended retail price of £26.99 is not a great deal to pay for a wine that you can rely on to impress. After all most champagne special offers bring them down to this sort of price and most people think that makes them a good buy.

Gran reserva, for those of you who are not familiar with the term, is the top wine classification of the Rioja region. A wine that has been aged for five years, a minimum of two in oak and a further three in bottle. This wine is already over eight years old

Having enjoyed the 2001 and 2004 (which I've just discovered was voted Wine Spectactor wine of the year) I was a little apprehensive about the 2005 - an unusually hot vintage - but it has the same seductive, soft, velvety fruit that other gran reservas struggle to preserve. The Rioja authorities categorised the vintage ‘excellent’ but then all their vintages are rated at least ‘good’.

The obvious food pairings would be roast lamb, feathered game like pheasant and pigeon and sheeps’ cheese but we enjoyed it with a very intensely flavoured fish stew at a friend's last night and it sailed through.

It’s widely stocked so it’s worth checking wine-searcher.com for the best current price. Winedirect.co.uk and Eton Vintners have it for £24.95 and D. Byrne of Clitheroe who are not online for £22.99*. You might be able to find the 2007 (a "very good" vintage according to the Consejo Regulador) a little cheaper but having won the Wine Spectator's endorsement the 2004 will cost a lot more. If you can even find a bottle . . .

* Apologies for earlier, lower prices which related to the reserva not the gran reserva.

G.D. Vajra Langhe Freisa Kyé 2010

I tasted so many great wines last week in Piemonte but this was one of the most fascinating. It’s made from freisa, a grape variety that according to the Vajra family was once the second or third most cultivated grape in the region and used to make vermouth.

It’s actually related to Nebbiolo and, according to Jancis Robinson et al’s invaluable Wine Grapes, possibly to Viognier too.

It’s certainly very fragrant with a taste of wild berries and a bitter cherry twist that reminds me of Cabernet Franc. The Vajra version which is grown in a south-facing vineyard about 400m above sea level is vivid, wild and dark - a really exciting wine

Giuseppe Vajra recommends drinking it “when it’s cold outside with polenta and game or venison” which seems a pretty good pairing suggestion to me.

The very good 2010 vintage (the one I tasted ) is currently only available in the UK from Fine & Rare wines at the moment though the 2009 which won the Piedmont wines over £15 trophy at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards is stocked by a number of retailers at around £35. (See tasting notes here and wine-searcher.com for stockists).

In the US the 2010 is already available from Saratoga Wine Exchange at $35.44, from Sec Wines at $39.84 and firewines.com at $39.96. All prices exclude sales tax.

Mas de Libian Bout d’Zan, Côtes du Rhône 2012

If you’re after a bright, fruity, sunshine-filled red to carry you through the dark, dreary days of winter you couldn't do better than this delicious Côtes du Rhône.

It’s made by a young woman winemaker Hélène Thibon from 40-45 year old vines on an estate the family has farmed since 1670 and at £9.90 a bottle (from Les Caves de Pyrène*) it’s ridiculously good value for a biodynamic wine.

It’s a typically southern Rhone blend of grenache (80%) and Syrah (20%) but has amazing, mouthwateringly vivid fruit you just don’t get from conventionally made wine - certainly at this price. Only 30% of the wine spends time in oak - big foudres rather than barrels.

You could drink it with practically anything from charcuterie to cheese - roast chicken, pork belly, garlicky sausages, grilled lamb - even the Christmas turkey. Certainly the Boxing Day leftovers. Caves’ Doug Wregg suggests “lamb meatballs impregnated with fennel and herbes de Provence and pasta” which I imagine would be a terrific match. Or a pizza, maybe - as I say, practically anything.

The quirky name apparently means bits of liquorice and refers to the liquorice flavour in the wine though I don’t personally find it that liquoricey and wouldn’t like it so much if it was. The wine is made without sulphur but I’d defy any natural wine sceptic not to like it. Pure happiness in a glass.

It's also available for £12.49 from the Smiling Grape Company and £12.95 from Joseph Barnes or £11.66 if you buy an unsplit case. You can read more about it on the Caves de Pyrène website.