TEMPRANILLO

The red wine grape Tempranillo has more aliases than a professional wrestler.

In the Ribera del Duero, where it has shone brightly of late, it is known as Tinto Fino. The Portuguese call it Tinta Roriz (and make Port of it). In Spain’s La Mancha, it is the Cencibel; in Penedès, the Ull de Llebre [ool day YEB-ray, meaning “eye of the hare”]. In Toro, in north central Spain, wine folk take it for one of their own as Tinta de Toro. Oh, and in Rioja … it’s plain old Tempranillo.

The name comes from the Spanish temprano, meaning “early,” to refer to Tempranillo’s penchant for ripening ahead of most other red grape varieties.

This plethora of names for Tempranillo gave rise, in time, to the false assumption outside the Iberian Peninsula that, within Spain, the grape makes merely Rioja. Over the years, the global market for Rioja grew more and more tepid, a result of traditional winemaking, including aging regimens, that tended to cloud the grape’s often plush, fruity character.

As a result, during recent times when the world looked far and wide for grape varieties that could deliver richly textured and ebulliently fruity red wines, moderate in both tannin and acid (think Merlot), the world passed Tempranillo by.

Times clearly have changed.

What it likes
Some feel that Tempranillo is a progeny of Pinot Noir, brought to Spain on long-ago pilgrimages by Burgundian monks, who would have left behind cuttings with fellow brethren there. Indeed, well-aged Tempranillo and mature Pinot Noir resemble each other, especially in texture. (Some feel that older Bordeaux and aged, traditional Rioja are siblings in both limpidity and aroma.)

Like Pinot Noir, Tempranillo is also sensitive to yields in the vineyard. To make the better wines of Ribera del Duero, for example, it is cropped to fewer than three tons per acre (a global fine wine standard), while the Argentines think nothing of boosting production to twice that to produce a usable, if undistinguished, plonk.

In order to shine—that is, to develop both high acidity and rich fruit—Tempranillo vines need, above all else, extremes of temperature: very hot days and very cool nights. These it receives in areas such as Ribera del Duero, Toro and in some parts of Rioja. But, by and large, the exception is the norm.

How it is made and what it’s like
Proof that Tempranillo makes the kind of red wine that the world now seeks is to note that, in recent years, Rioja has followed the lead of regions such as Ribera del Duero—keeping yields low, macerating Tempranillo longer and aging it in more French than American oak (and for shorter times in either).

Tempranillo is particularly suited for oak aging because it is quite resistant to oxidation. In Rioja formerly, however, because Tempranillo could be aged in barrel for a long time, it simply was. Back then, the oak dominated the fruit, all the while the global taste in red wine was moving to more fruit, less oak.

Traditional aging regimens—particularly, the reserva and gran reserva system, with their years’ long barrel and bottle aging—are falling out of favor in all of Spain’s red winemaking districts, not only Rioja.

Flavors of Tempranillo, consequently, have shifted from the traditional Rioja-like aromas and flavors of strawberry fruit “leather,” coffee bean and vanilla, to exuberant, concentrated aromas and tastes of ripe plums, dark (dried) cherries, blackberries and black raspberries.

In greatly concentrated form (Toro’s wines, often, and many from Ribera del Duero), Tempranillo can take on the character of buttered blackcurrants (as in a cobbler), with wisps of tobacco, prune or cocoa.

Young Tempranillo, having spent little time in oak, is back-slapping delicious, grapey, juicy, scented as with fresh herbs and quite perfumed of red fruits.

What ages anyway?
In many areas of both Spain and the New World, where the extreme differences in temperature that give Tempranillo its great beauty rarely occur, winemakers blend other red grapes into their Tempranillo—in Rioja, Graciano or Mazuelo (Carignan); in other areas in Spain and worldwide, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah. These grapes lend to Tempranillo that comes from, say, Navarra, what it may lack—perfume and flesh, mostly—as well as some staying power.

While top examples of unblended Tempranillo can age for an eternity, they don’t gain much by it but, rather, sing of one note. Over time, whatever other grape varieties have been blended in often add, in both aroma and flavor, that beauty of which older Tempranillo can boast.

Eats
Acidity levels in Tempranillo can range from low to high, and tannins can be plush or tough. So, choose Tempranillo for food accordingly.

Lighter, high-acid wines are perfect for jamón Serrano, lighter cheeses and even Indian cuisine. Lighter, low-acid wines go with simple fare. The fuller-fleshed Tempranillos, especially those with more aggressive tannins, are traditional partners for roast or grilled lamb or other dark, especially fatty, meats.

Few wines sweep chorizo off its feet as a young Tempranillo does.