Bodegas Palacio Rioja is an awesome wine, pricey though. In terms of the ones I sell at 1st Choice (I know them very well, as you can imagine), Damana is excellent. The Damana 5 is about $17 and very nice, the standard Damana Crianza is about $35 and outstanding. Glorioso Crianza is also a really nice little sub $20 Rioja, with lots of fruit character. The Reserva and Gran Reserva are a bit too dusty for my tastes. Cosme Placio is also a very nice number, also sub $20, and the top range Tabula label is a stunning wine, but also pricey (over $50). We also have a great little entry level one called Aradon, which is like $9 and quite soft (being 50% grenache) but is an excellent quaffing wine.
In terms of the ones I have tried from Dans, the Bodegas Roda Reserva is a cracker but also about $70. Marques de Caceras do a very nice one for $25-30, and the El Coto Crianza is a quite elegant Rioja at about $20.
I dunno what the boutique wine scene is like up there, but the best place for imports like Rioja is usually a good boutique seller...we can get some excellent value wines both at my place and Dans, but they are often the bigger producers and don't reflect the differences you can get in a region like Rioja. Boutique sellers can be more expensive but may also have access to a better range of boutique producers.
I've been looking to get into wines from Priorat, but I just can't find enough of them
Shiraz...a cracker for the price
I have 8 double sided premium wine racks with 96 individual slots on either side. In terms of "premium" shiraz, for eg, I have over 190!!! 
