With each passing year, the Wines from Spain Awards throw up more variety and better quality across the board. Chosen from nearly 1000 wines, the top awards demonstrate that while Rioja is still a vital part of what Spain does well, there is so much more to Spanish wine today in style, in quality and in value. Spain in many ways is Europe’s greatest hope for a challenge to the New World dominance of the past two decades.

Twenty years ago Spanish white wines failed to register on the quality radar but Galicia and Rueda have blazed a trail for a sea-change in the appetisingly cleancut dry styles. Galicia got the ball rolling with its crisp, seafood-friendly albariño whites, so it was no coincidence that the award for the best white over £10 this month went jointly to two delicious Galician examples.

Not surprisignly, one award went to the 2012 Pazo de Señorans, The Society’s Exhibition Albariño, £12.95, The Wine Society, a crystalline beauty of crisp saline purity. The other, made from the godello grape and utterly different in style, was the 2012, Louro, Rafael Palacios, £16.95, Noel Young (01223566744), Bottle Apostle (02089851549), Harvey Nichols, a superbly rich, intense dry Valdeorras white framed by subtle oak in white Burgundy mould.

The Rioja award went to a newcomer, a sleek red-fruited, vanilla oak-matured 2007 Gómez Cruzado, £17.99, Laithwaites (08451947711), while Best Red over £10 was for the bright, modern 2011 Elios, Costers del Priorat, £11.75 (www.vi-vino.co.uk), a rich, ripe blackberry-filled Catalonian blend of garnacha, cariñena and syrah that punched well above its weight at just over the £10 bar.

True class doesn’t come cheap but was on ample display in the Best Premium Red and Best of Show. Made from the tempranillo grape, the 2009 Cillar de Silos, around £35, Berry Bros & Rudd (08002802440), Oddbins, is a seductively seamless Ribera del Duero whose elegant damson-freshness belies the concentration of summer pudding berry fruit and delicate oak smokiness.

There’s Spanish gold in its sweet and fortified wines, in particular the range of ever-improving sherries made in styles ranging from the saltily bone dry to the unctuously rich and sweet. The Best Value Dry Fortified was the brilliant Lustau Palo Cortado, £9.75, Waitrose, intensely rich yet dry, toffee caramel-scented and nutty flavoured, while Best Dry Fortified went to the intense caramel-rich Fernando de Castilla Antique Oloroso, £22.99, Philglas & Swigott (02079244494), Hennings (01798872485), WoodWinters (01786834894).

Best Sweet wine was a welcome surprise because at only 13% alcohol, the 2012 Bodegas Jorge Ordoñez No 2 Victoria, £13.49, Harvey Nichols, Highbury Vintners (02072261347), Victor Hugo Wines (+441534764044), is an exotic nectar of wonderfully fragrant and intense, liquid bunch-of-grapes richness from Malaga, whose zesty orange peel acidity maintains a piercing freshness and balance. Feliz Navidad!

Something for the Weekend 21 December 2013

Night In

2010 Morrisons Signature Saint-Véran, Vignerons des Terres Secrètes

This ripe chardonnay spends a short time on its lees, which brings a delicate nutty character to the peachy flavours and adds an attractive creaminess of texture to a good value, refreshingly juicy white Burgundy. £8.99, Morrisons.

Dinner Party

2013 Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Riesling

There’s a lively energy and zest to this new vintage Clare Valley riesling whose fragrant lemon and lime notes are followed by a dry, tongue-tingling citrus fruity zing, underpinned by moderate alcohol. £13.99, buy 2 = £9.99, Majestic.

Splash Out

2011 Sabináres, Blanco de Garda, Arlanza

Made from a blend of albillo and viura grapes, this distinctive new-wave dry white from D.O. Arlanza in Northern Spain is richly concentrated with stonefruit flavours balanced by a barrel-derived leesy nuttiness and superb mineral finish. £25, Laithwaites (08451947711).