Spain's most important quality red variety, forming the backbone of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, where it's known as Tinto Fino (other synonyms include Ull de Llebre, Tinta del Pais, Tinta de Toro, Cencibel and, in Portugal, Aragonês and Tinta Roriz).
Capable of making juicy young reds as well as serious,
well-structured, fine, oak-aged reds with vanilla, tobacco spice and strawberry
flavours, usually blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, but sometimes
made on its own. One of the major red varieties of Argentina and grown also in
Languedoc-Roussillon, California and Australia.
What does it taste like?
- strawberry flavours
- a veneer of vanilla and tobacco-spice
The mainstay of Rioja and a host of other Spanish reds, TEMPRANILLO
is a versatile grape which is equally well used to making juicy young
strawberryish reds as well as more serious, oak-aged reds with a veneer
of vanilla, liquorice and tobacco spice characters overlaying the
strawberry flavours. Like SANGIOVESE, it can be very savoury, a quality
often defined as tobacco leaf, and it becomes leathery with age.
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