My love affair with Spanish grape varieties continues….
I have stumbled across a real bargain for you! First lets understand the grape variety.
Tempranillo, a high quality red wine grape is grown all over Spain except in the hot south and is regarded as Spain’s noble grape. Its spiritual home is in Rioja where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.
Tempranillo based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven flavours meant for drinking young. However tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.
In Australia tempranillo is taking off. There is no doubt about that.
Some of our regions having the greatest success with it are Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Heathcote and Margaret River. VinoDiversity magazine says the area of Australian vineyards planted in tempranillo is increasing steadily. In 2000 only 41 hectares were planted of the variety bot by 2010 the area had grown to 476 hectares with over 300 producers making wine from the variety.
Tempranillo I find is like ‘pinot noir on steroids’. It has all the fragrance and perfume of pinot, plus a bit more mid-palate flesh, colour and tannin. I love its beautiful cherry and raspberry fruit and savoury finish without the alcohol kick. It’s so pretty in its youth, but develops complexity quite quickly in the bottle.
I tasted a line-up of eight tempranillos from Spain and Australia – all under $30 per bottle. All were decanted. All are available.
2013 Sonsierra Crianza, Rioja
2013 Rocland Estate Chocolate Box, Barossa
2017 Angoves Alternatus, McLaren Vale
2015 Elefante El Valiente, Castilla La Mancha, Spain
2010 Marques de Carano Reserva, Aragon, Spain
2014 Harcourt Valley Limited Edition, Bendigo
2007 Anciano Reserva, Valdepeñas, Spain
2011 Marques de Murrieta Reserva, Rioja
This was a mixed bag probably as the Spanish wines were cheap imports and thus at the lower range of the quality style that tempranillos can exhibit. Some were shockers. The best were as follows:
2017 Angoves Alternatus, McLaren Vale $22.00 Wine Commander rating 18/20
Bright, although relatively light, crimson-purple. A lifted nose of dark cherries, raspberries and sandalwood. The palate has luscious cherry flavours, delicate spice and delicious soft tannins. Have it with Spanish styled food or rich meat dishes. Under priced.
2014 Harcourt Valley Limited Edition, Bendigo $23.00
WC 19/20
A new release from Harcourt Valley. Made from fruit sourced from the Camelback Vineyard in Heathcote. Won a gold medal at the Melbourne International Wine Challenge! Fantastic value and should be on the table!
Summary: If you haven’t tried this grape variety before don’t stand still. Rush the Harcourt Valley wine. Absolutely a great bargain. Enjoy.
