Great Wine Value: Viña Zaco Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain

Spain has been making wine for millennia, so it has its own wealth of native vine varieties.

Among these, tempranillo is the undisputed superstar. Fans of cabernets and Bordeaux appreciate tempranillo's affinity for oak aging and barrel spice, and  those who favor merlots or malbecs enjoy its similarly velvety texture and generous core of dark fruit.

Many regions of Spain make top-notch tempranillo, but the most popular hail from the Rioja region on the southern border of the País Vasco, or Basque Country.

There, tempranillo benefits from the cooling influence of the Atlantic to yield lighter reds that have all of tempranillo's alluring aromatics and bewitching complexity.

This sleek 100 percent tempranillo from Viña Zaco satisfies that red-wine jones with flavors of plums and cherries and a whiff of bourbon barrels.

Yet it can still pair brilliantly with lighter foods, like seafood, and even vegetarian dishes – a virtual poor man's pinot noir.