Wine Grape Cheat Sheets: Tempranillo

October 22, 2012 5 Comments

The Soundbyte:  Tempranillo is a primary red grape for much of Northern and Central Spain, including the famous wines of Rioja and Ribera del Duero.  It is also a key blending grape used in Port—where it often goes by the name Tinta Roriz.  It is often said that the name “Tempranillo” is derived from the Spanish word “temprano,” meaning early, and refers to the fact that the grape buds, flowers, and ripens a full two weeks before Spain’s other leading red grape— Garnacha (Grenache).

There is a fantastic old legend that says that Tempranillo ended up in Northern Spain via the Camino de Santiago.  According to the legend, Cistercian Monks making the religious pilgrimage from Burgundy to Santiago de Compostela left Pinot Noir cuttings behind at the monasteries around Haro, Burgros, and Logroño.  From these vines, the Pinot Noir grape morphed itself into its new surroundings and ended up as the Tempranillo we know now and love.  Alas, this tale must remain with us as “just a good story” seeing as recent have shown no such genetic connection between the two cultivars.  Tempranillo is, these days, believed to be a native son of Northern Spain.

Typical Attributes of a Tempranillo-based Wine:

  • Medium-to-deep ruby-red color in appearance (while young). Tempranillo-based wines can sometimes show a deep hue but lighter color intensity such as is often seen in Sangiovese or Pinot Noir.
  • These are long-lasting wines, and can often improve with significant aging and maturation.  This is in part due to the fact that Tempranillo has a low amount of oxidizing enzyme, making it particularly resistant to oxidation.
  • These wines, made from heat-loving, thick-skinned black grapes, tend to be medium to high in alcohol.
  • Medium-to-high levels of tannin, often described as “firm yet round.”
  • Intense fruit flavors mingled with spice and earth tones, often improved by oak contact.
  • Tempranillo can be made into a fun, fruity, easy drinking wine via Carbonic Maceration.
  • Tempranillo makes some wonderful, dry rosés.

Typical Aromas of a Tempranillo-based Wine:

Fruity: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Black Currant, Red Stone Fruit, Cherry, Plum, Raisin, Prune

Spicy: Vanilla, Dried Herbs, Clove, Cinnamon

Herbal: Green Herb, Mint, Eucalyptus

Earthy: Wet Earth, Leather, Mineral, Tobacco, Graphite

Oak-Derived:  Cedar, Vanilla, Oak, Soft Spice

Where The Best Tempranillo is Grown:

  • Spain, where it is one of the leading grapes and grown throughout the country.  The grape is the star of many of the the wine regions of the North of Spain, including Rioja, Nararra, and Penedès.  Here and elsewhere, it is frequently blended  with Grenache, Cariñena (called Mazuelo in Rioja), and Graziano.
  • Spain’s (arguably) most famous wine and winery, Vega Sicilia, makes a  Tempranillo-based blend and is leading the way for a resurgence of the vines and wines of the Ribera del Duero region of Spain.
  • Tempranillo is also the leading grape variety of the Spanish regions of Valdepeñas and La Mancha, where it sometimes goes by the name of Cencibel, Ojo de Libre, Tinto Fino, Tinto del Pais, Tinto del Toro or Ull de Liebre.
  • Portugal’s Douro Valley, where it is used to produce varietal wines and is also a key blending partner in the fortified wines of Port.
  • Tempranillo is also used as a varietal wine in the Portuguese region of the Alentejo. In Portugal it is usually referred to as “Tinta Roriz” or “Tinta Aragonez”.
  • California, Washington State, and Oregon. The TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates and Producers) people do a lot to promote Tempranillo in the New World – check them out!
  • Texas – Alamosa Wine Cellars in Bend, Texas made a 100% Estate-grown Tempranillo Blend called “El Guapo” – it  was the first Texas wine I fell in love with! Read more about that story here: https://bubblyprofessor.com/2011/08/26/texas-tempranillo/
  • Australia, particularly McLaren Vale.  Australian producer D’Arenberg has a Tempranillo/Grenache/Souzao blend called “Sticks and Stones”.
  • Chile, Argentina, and Mexico all have some plantings.

Food Affinities – Base Ingredients:

  • Beef, Lamb, Veal, Pork, Grilled Foods

Food Affinities – Bridge Ingredients:

  • Spanish Ham, Smoked Paprika, Tapas
  • Paella, especially when made with lots of Chicken and Sausage (a richer verision, as opposed to those heavy on the seafood.)
  • Garlic, Onions, Roasted Garlic
  • Tomatoes, Roasted Tomatoes, Dried Tomatoes
  • Currants, Prunes, Almonds (go easy on the sweetness)
  • Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Roasted Bell Peppers, Stuffed Peppers, Green Olives
  • Black Pepper, Chili Spices, Barbeque Flavors, Hearty, highly seasoned foods

Note: When it comes to food pairings, by all means—drink what you like!

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas…missjane@prodigy.net

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Texas Tempranillo

August 26, 2011 3 Comments

Texas Tempranillo

Here’s a riddle for the wanna-be-a-connoisseur crowd:  As Cabernet is to France, and Sangiovese is to Italy, what grape fills the bill for Spain?

The answer, of course, is Tempranillo – the grape that puts the grit into the most highly regarded red wines of the region.

Tempranillo has been revered for centuries as the main grape of Spanish Reds.  Tempranillo is the true hero of Spain’s legendary Rioja wines and the mainstay of the cultishly popular wines of Ribera del Duero.  This highly tannic, heavy-handed, heat-seeking grape even dares to follow in Don Quixote’s legendary footsteps on the sun-drenched plains of La Mancha.

At its best, Tempranillo produces wines with subtle, beguiling aromas of strawberry, cherry, vanilla, leather, and spice; tannins that purr like velvet and flavors of “ripe fruit laid on a bed of earth and spice”.

Until quite recently, Tempranillo really hadn’t been cultivated much outside of Spain.  It shows up in a smattering of vines in the Midi and had a short-lived “nice try” in the Mendoza region of Argentina a few decades ago.  Until now, the most success the grape has had outside of Spain has been a long-standing, undercover double-life in Portugal where it goes by the alias “Tinta Roriz” and gets rolled, namelessly, into the multi-grape Porto blend.  Alas, despite being a hometown hero, Tempranillo never dreamed of international superstardom.

At least not until 1998 in a little town named Bend, Texas.  It was here that Jim and Karen Johnson, now the well-known proprietors of Alamosa Wine Cellars, first planted Tempranillo in Texas.  Jim felt that Tempranillo would be well suited to the climate and soil conditions of his Texas Hill Country Vineyard, and the quality of the very ripe, broodishly dark, and highly tannic grapes from their first harvest in 1999 proved him correct.

Karen and Jim, with help from Anthony King (now making Pinot Noir at Lemelson Winery inOregon) made a small batch of the 1999 Tempranillo and laid it down for a nice oak barrel nap.  A few months later, stopping by  Alamosa on his way out to study enology at U.C. Davis, Anthony tasted the rock-solid wine and said to Jim, “This is going to be a big handsome wine!”  Thus, the name “El Guapo” was born, meaning “a handsome man” but with a wink and a nod to the Steve Martin movie “The Three Amigos” and its ugly bandito.  This “handsome-yet-ugly” motif is the charming reason behind the picture of the horned lizard – no one’s idea of a natural beauty – on the label of wine called “El Guapo”.

Following the Johnson’s trailblazing lead, several other Texas Wineries are now making Tempranillo.  Dan and Rose Mary Gatlin of the Inwood Estates Winery in the Texas High Plains have been producing Tempranillo Blends (Tempranillo/Cabernet) since 2003. Dan Gatlin’s history in the Texas Wine Industry takes him back several generations, including the establishment of one of the first vineyards in the state in Denton County in 1981.  This experimental vineyard sampled 22 all-vinifera varieties and brought the Gatlins to the same conclusion:  Tempranillo does well in Texas!  The Gatlins currently produce an Inwood Estates Tempranillo/Cabernet Blend that sells out almost before it is released, and a 100% Tempranillo named “Cornelious” in honor of Cornelious “Neal” Newsom who grows the grapes in his vineyard on the Texas High Plains.

Another fan of Tempranillo in Texas, Gary McKibben of Red Caboose Winery and Vineyards in Meridian says he first tasted Tempranillo about ten years ago at a Mexican Restaurant in Dallas and fell instantly in love.  Seven years ago, when he started his first vineyard, he planted Tempranillo as an experiment. Gary found it grew exceptionally well in his rocky vineyard, producing large clusters of dark, rich, highly tannic grapes. Gary first made a 100% Tempranillo wine in 2007, and reports his Tempranillo wines are very popular and he will be planting more vines, and producing more of his Tempranillo-based wine, in the future.

According to Dr. Ed Hellman, Viticulture Specialist with the Texas Cooperative Extension and the man who might as well be called the authority on all things viticultural inTexas, Tempranillo is a good fit for the state with its vigorous vines, thick-skins, dark color and good tannins.  The variety, while it doesn’t have much history here, has been performing well in three distinct Texas growing regions – Texas Hill Country, Texas High Plains, andNorth Texas.  Dr. Hellman says that “Thus far, the variety looks to be a real winner for us.  I believe Tempranillo has great potential to be one of our leading varietals.”

Dr. Hellman goes on to state that his only concern about the future of Tempranillo inTexasis consumer acceptance of an unfamiliar variety.  I can relate to this, as I know from experience that many consumers tend to stick to their Cabernet-Chardonnay-Merlot.  So, here is the rallying cry:  Come on, world, try a Tempranillo.  The future of this noble grape is in your hands.  Visit your local wine store, and beg for Texas Tempranillo to appear on the shelves.

As of today, the following Texas Wineries are producing wines from Tempranillo:  Alamosa Wine Cellars, Brushy Creek Winery, Haak Winery, Inwood Estates Winery, Lone Oak Winery, Red Caboose Winery, and San Martino Winery.   Hopefully, there will be more in the future.  If you are a winery producing (or even considering producing) Tempranillo, let me know and I’ll help spread the word!

Drink up, world, it’s Time for Tempranillo!

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