The many faces of Tempranillo
Have you ever noticed how much of California looks and feels a lot more like Spain, as opposed to say, Burgundy or Bordeaux? They both tend to be dry, hot, somewhat windy regions with moderate elevations and in both regions Tempranillo THRIVES. It produces wines that are better balanced, more complex and an all around better value than many other, more famous varieties. Heresy you say? Well seek one of these wines out, try it, then get back to me.
I am not saying that California Tempranillo is the equivalent of some of Spain's greatest wines. Rioja for example is made in a plethora of styles. Many of these are trying too hard to emulate the anonymous yet expensive wines of every region in the world that are striving to make anonymous yet expensive wines, usually with fanciful proprietary names. There is an expression in Spanish for these wines, ironically it's "alta expression" which evidently is Spanish for "Super Tuscan" or "cult wine wannabe".
Many of these "alta expression" wines have lost their character and sense of place. Wines from Rioja speak not only of their place, and the small percentages of blending grapes, Mazuela, Garnacha and Graciano, that compliment the predominant Tempranillo, but of the unique winemaking that has developed there. It's time for us all to return to wine's roots and seek out the unique expressions that until recently were tucked away in every winemaking region.
While some Californian Tempranillos are wonderful wines, they are distinctly different than their Spanish siblings. Of the Tempranillos that we recently tasted several stood out as compelling values. If you'd like to read more about Tempranillo and the results of our tasting please visit us here. Below are some Tempranillo wines that I think are worthy of your attention. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
A Pair of Californian Upstarts!
Great Values from Rioja and Toro
New and Old from Rioja's Greatest Producer
We'll be trying another flight of Tempranillo based wines this week so watch out for our full report and check out the Snooth forum for our usual round up of Global Tasting Initiative notes. And remember, Cabernet Sauvignon is on the way, beginning Monday March 9th we'll be moving on beyond Tempranillo!
