 August's Grape: Tempranillo!
On your mark, get set, sip!
Here are our featured wines for August. (While supplies last...so hurry in!) You'll receive your 15% discount starting August 1 when you use your club card. Stop in, stock up, sip away, and join us in cyber space to give us YOUR comments and questions on these darling little labels.
This month’s grape, Tempranillo, might be a bit unfamiliar to many of you. But I encourage you to get friendly with this intriguing grape. Many of my favorite wines right now are made from Tempranillo and hail from successful growing regions in Spain. Some of the best value-for-your-dollar wines come from Spain, so we’re going to help you discover some of these gems.
 Best bargain:
Codice 2001 Vino de la Tierra de Castilla $8.99 ($7.64 with G.O.G. discount)
This bargain Spanish Tempranillo is a serious yet supple wine with generous flavors. It possesses warm, slightly spicy aromas of strawberries and cherries.
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 Friendliest:
Vina Mayor Crianza, Ribera del Duero 1999, $13.99 ($11.89 with G.O.G. discount)
Great purity in the expression of the Tempranillo grape: soft texture, red berry flavors with a touch of smoky spices.
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 Most Interesting:
Finca Sobreno 2001, Toro $12.99 ($11.04 with G.O.G. discount)
100% Tinto de Toro, which is the local alias for Tempranillo in this region of Spain. Nicely textured ripe black cherry and currant fruit with subtle notes of oak and new saddle leather in the background.
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 Best in Show:
Allende 2000, Rioja $24.99 ($21.24 with G.O.G. discount)
Aromas of cherries intermixed with black currants and pencil shavings are just the beginning. This elegant expression of Tempranillo is wonderfully complex.
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Some notes on Tempranillo
August’s featured wines are 80% or more Tempranillo, blended with other varietals such as Garnacha (Grenache), Monastrell (Mourvedre), Mazuelo (Carignan), and Cabernet Sauvignon. Tempranillo itself is a relatively hearty, thick-skinned grape with deep color, that results in excellent wines that can age fairly well. Temprano means “early” in Spanish and probably refers to the early ripening character of this grape. I consider the weight of Tempranillo-based wines to be somewhere between a Pinot Noir and a Merlot. However, you can expect a bit more density than the Pinot Noirs we tasted last month. I think you will find the flavor profile to be very different as well.
These wines will typically yield aromas and flavors that are fairly dark and rich, with hints of leather, tobacco, coffee, spice, vanilla, cherry and black fruits, and fresh herbs such as dill. You will find a good amount of acidity, making them excellent “food wines.” This acidity, which is achieved through cool nights in Northern Spain, is really important for food pairing. Wines from Spain are typically treated with a good dose of new oak--often American oak-- which lends strong, distinct vanilla-coffee character to the wine. The flavor derived from oak is just as important to the character of Tempranillo-based wines as is the fruit itself.
Another interesting note for you Girls who are stocking a wine cellar: Tempranillo-based wines are slow to oxidize and, therefore, are long-aging wines. Well-made examples are often beautifully expressive at 20-40 years of age. (Can you REALLY leave a wine on the shelf that long? I’m happy to make it a year!)
When matching Tempranillo-based wines with food, I think often times they can function like a Pinot Noir. They are very flexible depending on the density of the wine. If the wine is a bit lighter in weight, it probably has more Tempranillo and less of whatever it is blended with (e.g. Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon). So try matching these wines with a broad range of foods, including salmon and tuna, shellfish with tomato based sauces, roasted chicken, duck, beef, or venison. I would match these wines with any Spanish cheese, so try Manchego, Zamarano, or Mahon. Other hard cheeses or semi-soft cow’s milk cheeses would make these wines sing as well. |
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Where the Grape is Harvested
Rioja: Located in Northern Spain, near the Navarra region. Rioja is one of the two most important Tempranillo wine-growing regions in Spain. Here Tempranillo is most commonly blended with Garnacha to make its very successful and distinct wines. Other grapes blended in Rioja Tempranillos are Graciano, Mazuelo (Carignan) and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ribero del Duero: Located just North of Madrid in Spain, Ribero del Duero has become the second most important Tempranillo wine-growing region in Spain. Here the grape is known as Tinto Fino or Tinto del Pais, meaning “fine dark one.” You will find this region’s wines to be darker in color, with more concentrated fruit and more muscle than wines from Rioja. They are typically blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and other grapes that add more weight to the wine than does Garnacha in Rioja. More sun means thicker skins and higher sugars, and cool nights mean better acids and longer hang-time, leading to great complexity in these wines.
Other Spanish Regions: Tempranillo is grown in Navarra in the North of Spain, and is blended with Garnacha and Bordeaux grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In Catalunya along the eastern coast of Spain, the grape is known as Ull de Llebre. In Valdepenas further South it is known as Cencibel, and is usually blended with white grapes and even flavored with oak chips. These regions use Tempranillo to a lesser degree, perhaps due to the warmer climate that makes the early-ripening grape harder to grow.
Portugal: Known as Tinta Roriz in the North and Aragonez in the South, the grape is often an important component of this region’s famous Port wine. Some lighter red wines that are considered table wines are also produced here.
Argentina: Grown as Tempranilla here, this region produces light red wines that lack specific character. Tempranilla is being used less and less in this region, and is being replaced by better-known grape varietals.
Other: Winemakers in California and increasingly in Australia are attempting to grow Tempranillo, so we will have to wait and see what kind of results they get.
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