tempranillo

Spain’s Answer to Cabernet Sauvignon

If you were to ask the average Spanish winemaker in the Rioja wine region
of Spain what they thought of Cabernet Sauvignon, they would probably
smile rather sheepishly and quip that it makes an excellent blending
grape! (Blending grape: a grape used in small percentages to round off
the blend of another grape varietal wine) Perhaps they feel that they
already have a grape at their disposal that will give them everything they
need. It is a red grape that really gives Spain the best of both worlds in a
premium red wine varietal. It has the ability to make wines that have
enough tannins to age for many years, but it is very approachable and
indeed drinkable at a young age, which is very unlike a lot of other tannic
red wines. Have you heard of this grape made famous by the bodegas
(wineries) of Spain? It is known as ‘Cencibel’ in La Mancha and
Valdepenas. Heard of it? Oh, it is also called ‘Ull de Llebre’ in Catalonia
and ‘Tinta de Pais’ or ‘Tinto Fino’ in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain.
Ring a bell for you now? How about ‘Tinta de Toro’ from Toro or ‘Tinto de
Madrid’ from….uh…well…Madrid? No? The Portuguese call it ‘Tinta
Roriz’, surely you’ve heard of that grape, right?

Perhaps you know this grape varietal best from its birthplace in the Rioja
wine region in Spain where it has been given its international name,
‘Tempranillo’. It is by far and away the most important grape varietal to
Spain and they just about have a stranglehold on all of the world’s wines
made from the grape. It is grown and made into wines in other countries,
but certainly not in any great abundance. You may find Tempranillo wines
in California, Australia and Argentina for example. Ever had a
Tempranillo wine from any of those places? Probably not. Argentina is
plowing along with the grape so maybe in the next few years you will begin
to be more exposed to Tempranillo wines from there, but for now, your best
bet is a Tempranillo wine from Spain. To give you an idea just how great
the numbers of Tempranillo grapevines in Spain outweigh the rest of the
world, take this interesting statistic into consideration. Spain has over
81,000 acres of land planted just with Tempranillo grapes and by contrast,
there is only 38,000 acres of grapevines total of all grape varieties in the
Napa Valley. That is more than twice the amount of grapevines as Napa
has and that is with only one species of grape. In fact, although Spain is
only the third largest producer of wine in the world, they have the most
acres of land devoted entirely to grapevines than anywhere else on the
planet.

In Portugal, where it is called ‘Tinta Roriz’, it is grown with some regularity
along the Douro River, but almost exclusively used in minor portions for
their Port Wines, which are fortified sweet wines. The fact that Portugal
grows and plants Tempranillo vines in any numbers at all is really not a
shock when you consider that the country borders Spain and shares the
Iberian Peninsula with them. To take it a step further, the Douro River in
Portugal, where most of the Tempranillo is grown, also runs through Spain
as well, where it is known as the “Ribera del Duero”, and in fact, most of
Spain’s Tempranillo grapes are found either on this river or in close
proximity to it.

Tempranillo is the dominant grape variety planted in the wine producing
regions of Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Toro and to a lesser extent in
Penedes, Priorato and Somontano. In Penedes, you are likely to find the
name of the grape, “Tempranillo” on the bottle of the wine. A great
example of a Tempranillo wine from Penedes would be from the likes of
Miguel Torres, which for the money, is a fantastic wine. However, in Rioja
or the Ribera del Duero regions, you will only find the name of the region
and the producer on the bottle, but rest assured, it is almost a given that its
made from Tempranillo grapes.

Spain’s noble grape is an interesting variety. Like other highly regarded
red wine grapes, it has a thick, black skin full of tannins enabling it to
produce full-bodied wines that are capable of long aging. However, they
tend to be soft and elegant and the tannins don’t need as much time to
settle like a Cabernet Sauvignon would, which means you may enjoy a
Tempranillo wine much sooner. It also takes extremely well to oak barrel
aging. It’s almost as if the two were made for each other. The results from
oak aging (which is predominantly American Oak Barrels) give the wines a
soft and sensuous dose of cedar, spice and vanilla aromas.

Tempranillo grapes are not high in acidity, nor do they produce very much
alcohol in the wines that they make. It is because of the absence of these
two components that they are almost always blended with other grapes to
raise the levels of acidity and alcohol up to an acceptable range. One
reason that Tempranillo may be lacking in acidity and alcohol is that it
happens to ripen very early. In fact the word ‘Tempanillo’ in Spanish quite
literally means “early”. Don’t be fooled though. This black grape still has
enough time on the vine to produce deeply colored purple and intense
wines flowing with generous amounts of mouth-watering flavors and
aromas of strawberries, blackberries, red and black stone fruit like plums
and prunes, minerals, licorice, tobacco and leather with velvety spice
accents and hints of vanilla and chocolate. Sounds delicious to me!

Not ever having been fortunate enough to travel to Spain personally, I
have made several assumptions about the country based on photographs
and things I have read. For instance, I have always assumed that most of
Spain was very hot. It looks like to me that it is full of dusty plains in many
parts of the country, so I was actually quite taken back to find out that
Tempranillo wines do not tolerate heat or dry weather. They are at their
best in cooler growing regions with high altitudes. For a while it was
thought that Tempranillo was a distant cousin to the Pinot Noir grape
(another cool weather grape), but scientists have since found this to be
untrue. In Rioja, they plant a lot of the grapevines on steep hillsides and
mountains in order to have a cool spot for the vines to grow. Pests and
diseases also pose a serious threat to the grape and many precautions
must be taken in order to prevent these from infecting them. One way to
prevent the spread of pests is to plant Tempranillo grapevines in soils that
are sandy and well drained like those found in the Toro region of Spain.

Although there are several regions in Spain that plant and make wines
from the Tempranillo grape, the two most important and prestigious
regions for Tempranillo are Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Of course it was
the Romans that first brought wine making to Spain, but the Moors, who
conquered many parts of Spain, almost wiped out all the grapevines
entirely. Fortunately for Spain and indeed the rest of the wine-loving
world, El Cid liberated the country from the Moors and in essence saved
their fledgling wine industry. Once Christianity returned to Spain,
Benedictine monks from Burgundy, France came down to what is now
known as the Rioja region to help establish three monasteries. With them
they brought their knowledge of viticulture and helped Spain bring back
wine to their country. Now we are not talking about great mouth-watering
wine, but hey, it was a start.

The quality of wine in Spain remained relatively poor up until the 1870’s
when of all things, a vine-killing pest came to their rescue, indirectly. The
phylloxera louse began wreaking havoc on the grapevines in Bordeaux,
France. Many of the established fine winemakers of Bordeaux moved
south to the Rioja region of Spain and began influencing the way wine
would be made for the better. They introduced oak barrel aging and many
modern winemaking techniques that were unfamiliar to the Spanish at that
time. With them, they of course brought some the grape varieties of their
homeland like Cabernet and Merlot. However, even these French
immigrants began to dump their favorite grape varietals in favor of the
homegrown Tempranillo because they just could not measure up to the
quality of wine produced by it. Thus Spain’s noble red grape was born!

Perhaps the most famous wine region in Spain is Rioja. It is located in the
North Central portion of the country and derives it’s name from the
combination of “Rio” which is Spanish for river and “Oja” which is the
name of the tributary of the Ebro that marks the region’s southwestern
boundary. The red wines of Rioja are made up of at least 70%
Tempranillo if not higher and are blended with the likes of Garnacha
(Grenache), Mazeulo and Graciano grapes. These grapes make up for the
lack of natural acidity and low alcohol levels that Tempranillo grapes turn
out. These wines range in quality and price from low to very high.

Rioja has developed a rather interesting way to catalog their wines by
labeling their aging requirements. There are four different levels of the
aging process and it is a reasonably good way to judge the quality of the
wines made from Rioja. The first category is Sin Crianza and it implies
that wine is made with little to no aging in oak casks. The second category
is just called Crianza and to meet this aging requirement the wine must
spend one year aging in oak followed by one year of aging in the bottle
before it is released to the public. The next step up is called Reserva.
Reserva wines must meet certain selection guidelines and then the wine
must be aged for a period of three years. At least one of those years has
to be in oak and the rest in the bottle. Finally there is the category of Gran
Reserva. These wines are aged for a period of five years with at least two
being in an oak cask and the rest in the bottle before being released.

What does all this mean and why should we care you ask? Well unlike
every other wine producing country in the world, when Spain releases a
first class wine to the wine buying public, it is ready to be consumed once it
is purchased. Think about it, if you have always been that person that
would love to try a wine that has been aged and developed maturity and
complex flavors and aromas, but you have never had either the luxury of
storing a wine or the patience to leave it alone, then Rioja Tempranillo
wines are ready made for you. It is not uncommon to find at your favorite
wine store a Rioja wine that is eight to ten years old on the shelf. It doesn’
t mean the wine is past its prime, but it does mean that you can buy it today
and go home and drink it that night. Pretty cool, eh?

As famous as the Rioja region of Spain is for their Tempranillo wines, the
wines from the Ribera del Duero region may be even better. In fact, Spain’
s most highly regarded winery is located in the Ribera del Duero region
and they make a wine that sells for over $300.00 upon release called
“Unico”. This Bodega or winery is called “Vega y Sicilia”. This is also the
region that houses the famous wines from Pesquera. There must be
something in the water here, or should I say ‘Rio’? This is the one place in
Spain where Tempranillo wines are made without the use of other grapes to
blend and boost the alcohol and acidity. For some reason the Tempranillo
grapes that flourish in this region transcend their restrictive barriers to
make excellent wines. Wines that take extremely well to oak barrels and
age gracefully in the bottle for up to fifteen years. Unlike the Rioja region,
these wines are not ready for consumption upon release to the market and
may require you to age them for a while before you drink them.

Other wine regions in Spain like Navarra, Toro or Penedes are allowed to
use more traditional grape varietals to round off the Tempranillo wine
blends. You may often see grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
being used, which gives the Tempranillo wines a different style than the
ones from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. They also benefit from being a bit
more affordable and easier on the pocketbook.

The wines of Spain certainly have the potential to be on par with the
reputations of the wines from France and Italy. They have the know how
and the people to make it happen. They haven’t enjoyed the notoriety that
the aforementioned countries have had throughout the world, but they are
gaining more and more ground on them every day. Spain’s wines are
becoming fashionable here the States as people are becoming more
familiar with them and really developing a taste for their ready to consume
style and for their soft grace on the palate. Rich, decadent, full of delicious
flavors, appropriately aged and ready to consume now, these wines are
certain to take the world by storm. So many countries in the world have
gone with the pack and tried to copy France’s & Napa’s Cabernet
Sauvignon wines for fear that this could truly be the only noble grape.
Cabernet has had its day in Spain, but they had something unique and more
suited for their country. For Spain, prestige, elegance and grace came in
the form of another grape called Tempranillo and it is Spain’s answer to
Cabernet Sauvignon.