Brian Likes Spanish Tempranillo

My wife and I recently returned from our annual vacation, this year in Portugal and Spain. We both really enjoyed trying out wines there that are not as readily available in Canada. I came back enthused to make a Spanish wine. Wine Sense sells two Spanish wine kits – the World Vineyard Spanish Tempranillo and the Selection Spanish Rioja. As my red wine supply was running low, I decided I needed a quick fix so I started a four-week Spanish Tempranillo kit to add to my depleted stock.

World Vineyard allows you to make wines from around the world!

In our travels, we sampled and thoroughly enjoyed several styles of Tempranillo and learned that although Spain has several winemaking areas, the most important was the Rioja region in northern Spain. There, in one of three subregions, most wines were made from the Tempranillo grape by itself or blended with Garnachia (Grenache), Graciano and/or Mazuelo grapes. It has also been combined with a Cabernet Sauvignon grape as was the case with our Selection Limited Edition kit three years ago. By blending these grapes the wines became more complex and required further aging. But for the most part, Tempranillo by itself produces a very enjoyably dry red wine that can be consumed young, and exhibit gentle, berry flavors with an herbaceous, earthy character. Before they are sold, they are stored in oak casks for a year, then, are aged another year in the bottle. It exhibits a medium body, and like most red wines, they improve with age. I enjoyed Rioja with red meats – steaks, beef roasts, etc.- whereas the average Spaniard would also enjoy his tapas (mid afternoon snack) with a glass of Tempranillo in a sunny outdoor café just before siesta time. Like the Portuguese, I found the Spanish can walk into a grocery store and purchase it from a vast array of reasonably priced bottles of wine, and not have to pay an exorbitant price for an overly taxed wine, in a government liquor mart. It’s oh so much more civilized.

My Spanish Tempranillo should be ready to drink in late spring served with a sizzling BBQ’d meal cooked on a warm sunny afternoon. I can hardly wait!

Cheers,

Brian- Wine Sense (Portage Avenue)

Filed under: General, Wine by Craig