5 Reasons to Love Tempranillo

Speaking of Tempranillo, one naturally thinks of Spain – it is a Spanish national treasure grape variety and the most widely planted red wine grape in the country. Famous producing regions include Rioja and Ribera del Duero. 87% of Tempranillo produced in the world comes from Spain. It is unquestionably the #1 grape of Spain.

Tempranillo is a thick-skinned grape with medium acidity. It needs sufficient warmth to develop rich flavours. However, hot climates without a high diurnal temperature range could cause the wine to lack the necessary acidity for an ideal balance. Where in the world can we find the suitable planting conditions? Many regions in Spain can provide ideal terroir for planting Tempranillo, as they can offer sufficient temperature moderated by the ocean and/or high altitude.

Tempranillo has a relatively neutral aromatic profile when compared to other common grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. Therefore, it can present very different styles according to the variations of terroir, climate, and winemaking techniques, including blending, use of oak barrels, and aging. For example, Tempranillo produced in Rioja often has red fruit flavours and hints of sweet spice like cinnamon; while Ribera del Duero’s generally has a deeper, more intense style, with more prominent black fruit flavours and stronger tannins.

In terms of blending, it is often blended with Spanish traditional grapes Garnacha, Graciano, Carinena/Mazuelo, or some international varieties to create a rich wine with superb aging potential. These blends are usually aged in oak barrels. For example, many Rioja Tempranillo wines are aged in American barrels, thereby giving the resulting wines some vanilla and coconut notes. Tempranillo can also be made into a Joven wine (meaning “young” in Spanish), which is very refreshing and full of fresh strawberry flavour in style. It is not aged in oak barrels and perfect for being enjoyed young. It has become more and more popular in recent years.

When young, Tempranillo can be very fresh and fruity, but when planted in the right place and in the right ways, with oak and age, the resulting wine will become more mellow and develop a complex and attractive aromatic and flavour profile that serious connoisseurs are craving for. The world-renowned winery, Vega Sicilia, for example, has proved that Tempranillo can be made into a superb wine with the aging potential of decades.

Although Spain accounts for nearly 90% of the global Tempranillo production, in recent years the variety has been gaining popularity in different countries, and many innovative styles have been developed. With an increase in worldwide plantings of Tempranillo, many wine writers even regard it as one of the latest “international varieties”. For example, Spain’s neighbor Portugal, in central Alentejo and Douro, uses Tempranillo to make red wine and port wine.

Stepping into the new world, wineries in many countries have planted Tempranillo too, such as Argentine winery Zuccardi, Australian winery Henschke and New Zealand winery Trinity Hill. Their different terroirs and winemaking techniques bring a unique personality to Tempranillo, allowing it to show a new face to the world. These New World Tempranillo are not produced and exported very much, and they are not easy to find in Hong Kong. It’s definitely worth a try!

Tempranillo is such a lovely, attractive, and highly versatile grape variety that should shine internationally, but why does it seem not as famous as other “international varieties”? One of the reasons is that it is too “mysterious”, and it is its name that puts a layer of mystery on itself! Tempranillo has many aliases. In Spain alone, it is called 10 different names in different regions. For example, Ribera del Duero will use “Tinta del País”, and other regions will also use “Cencibel”, “Tinto Fino”, “Ull de Llebre”, etc.; in Portugal, they call it “Aragonez” and “Tinta Roriz”. It comes as no surprise if people have tried Tempranillo but didn’t know that it was Tempranillo.