Wines far from plain in Spain

So much has been happening in Spain in the last 10 years that it's hard to keep up.

A flick through John Radford's The New Spain (Mitchell Beazley, £25), revised last year, shows you just how much.

It's no surprise that wine experts are declaring Spain to be the "next big thing", with exciting developments taking place in almost every area.

I decided to take a quick look at the north-east. Catalonia is made up of four provinces: Gerona and Lleida in the north, bordering France; Barcelona and Tarragona in the centre and south, along the coast. The winemaking here is as thrilling as the gastronomy, an exciting mixture of ancient and modern, using a mix of international varieties and intriguing indigenous varieties. Some of Spain's most modern wineries are making world-class wines here, while boutique wineries are turning out highly individual wines from carefully tended single vineyards. And there are dozens of co-operatives, many of which now offer good, everyday wines at modest prices.

First I went to Tarragona, to the denominación de origens (DOs) of Priorat and Montsant. Priorat has had a meteoric rise over the last 15 years. The second is a rising star, with increasingly interesting wines from forward-thinking producers.

As a pub wine buyer, you'll have to forget about the first DO: the average price for a bottle of Priorat is about E30. However, Priorat may become more within your reach in a couple of years or so - if the president of Priorat's regulating council gets his way. Salus Alvarez reckons that he should be able to persuade his 50 or so members (there were just four of them 15 years ago) to turn out second labels at lower prices, though he's got to tighten up the consistency of their top wines.

Priorat needs more consistency

In a 10-strong line-up, tasted by a panel of top wine writers, no wine achieved a rating higher than three (out of five) stars, with too many wines languishing at a disappointing one or two stars. "Priorat is the easiest place to make wine but the hardest place to make balanced wine," said a refreshingly honest Salus, who makes top Priorat wine Vall Llach (£37 per bottle ex-VAT, available through McKinley Vintners, 0207 928 7300), which I had tried at dinner the night before, and which happily got one of my highest scores.

For me (and my wallet), the real excitement was in nearby Montsant. It might not have the soil or micro-climates of its much-lauded neighbour, but can produce wines of great character. Just three years into its existence, the DO had 26 members and is now producing the kind of wines that initially drew people to Priorat.

Two of my favourite Montsant producers are Capçanes and Joan d'Anguera - one a modestly sized co-op, that boasts, oddly, the best kosher wine I've ever tasted; the other is a family-run set-up that has a way with Syrah.

Celler de Capçanes exports 80% of its wines. Founded 70 years ago, it produced only bulk wine until 1979 and has fine-tuned its members down to 80. I loved all its wines - even the stuff destined for bag-in-a-box.

The winery is squeaky clean and the grapes carefully graded. My favourite - and it goes into my list of all-time favourites - is their top wine, Cabrida, a stunning 100% Garnacha (£19.30 ex-VAT Georges Barbier, 0208 852 5801) made from old vines that grow in their highest vineyards.

Lasendal is great value

If you want something similar, but much cheaper, then try the Lasendal, which is also 100% Garnacha, but made from younger vines (at £5.60 per bottle ex-VAT, also available from Georges Barbier).

Brothers Josep and Joan Anguera Pons took over from their father a few years back, continuing to modernise and seeing praise heaped on their wines as a result. Their father was the first in Montsant to plant Syrah back in the 1980s and the boys are proud of his fortuitous decision.

The Syrah brings an elegance to their blends, best of which, in my mind, is Finca L'Argatà (£8 per bottle ex-VAT, Laymont & Shaw, 01872 270545), followed by La Planella (at £6.29 ex-VAT).