A bargain Rioja from the Co-op

2009 C.V.N.E., Imperial Rioja Reserva, Spain (£14.99, sold in 163 Co-op stores, for more details please call the customer care line on 0800-0686 727).

I am not sure what's going on at TheCo-operative. I attended a winterpress tasting the other day and the"hit rate" of bottles passing theJukesy approval score of 18/20 was immense. In fact, it is way higher than that of all the other high street retailers this year!

I taste everything on the shelves in the run up to Christmas in order to furnish my Daily Mail column with buckets of seriouslywell made, but inexpensive wines. This job has become increasingly difficult over the last 15 years as prices have risen and value for money has sagged. In the last nine years as your wine commentator, the Co-op has enjoyed only three write-ups, but given its latest volley of epic wines this is set to change.

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My featured, delicious, ultra-classy Rioja is five to ten quid cheaper at the Co-op than at any other store I can find. It is made by one of the most historic wineries in Spain, and is such a beloved wine in the UK market that it used to be shipped in pint-sized bottles. It is very simple phone the customer care line, find out your nearest store and raid the shelves.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.