You absolutely must try this red wine from Spain!

Hey everybody, welcome back. And interestingly, and all the time I've been making videos, I don't think I've ever made a video about Tempranillo. So as far as new and interesting wines to try are concerned, this is something that's really worth calling out. Let's talk about Spain's Tempranillo today. Tempranillo may be the greatest grape you've never heard of before. Best known in Rioja wine, there are 500,000 acres of it in Spain, which is a lot of wine. So it is one of the, I think it's like the fifth most grown grape in the world for that reason. And also because you've never done a video on it before. Now everybody's gonna know. So I guess it's pretty obvious that Tempranillo is a red grape, and it is named after the Spanish word temprano, which means early, because the grape ripens early. So it doesn't really need a very long season. It's found mostly in the northern part of Spain where it's a little bit cooler. So obviously Rioja is in the northern part of Spain. These regions are as well. As is common in Europe, this grape masquerades under different names. One of the reasons is because there's a famous pilgrimage route across Spain. And over the centuries, pilgrims have taken this grape to different regions and regional dialects call it something different. In the region of Spain known as Toro, they refer to it as Tinto de Toro. In the regions of the west of Rioja known as Ribeiro del Duero, they call it Tinto Fino. In the Penedes region on the eastern coast of Spain, they call it Ur de Llebre. In the Valdepeñas region, they call it Sensino. And it's even used in Portugal and in port wine in particular, where it's known as Aragonese or Tinto Roriz. Now, when it comes to the flavor profile of Tempranillo, it's a little hard to pin down. It's kind of like a Chardonnay. They consider it to be sort of a neutral grape that's very pliable and the flavor can change depending on where it comes from and how it's made. So let's grab a couple of these and taste what Tempranillo from around Spain tastes like, and we can end with the Rioja, which is a blend. Now, this one here in particular is from the La Mancha region, which is from the central meseta, which means the plain in the center part of the country. And La Mancha is also the famous region from Don Quixote. This is a 2020. It's got four years on it already. So generally speaking, Tempranillo is gonna be a dry wine and fairly high in tannins too. It's a rather thick-skinned grape, so it has a lot of tannic structure to it. The acidity is known to be slightly lower, so it's gonna be a little softer. And you're gonna get these really familiar aromas of strawberries and cherries in there, and I'm definitely getting it out of this wine here. Ooh. Strawberry. It's almost baked, though. It's like, tastes like it's been baked into a pie. Rioja and Tempranillo, the regions that produce Tempranillo, are well-known for using American oak instead of French oak. So American oak tends to impart a little bit less of like a cedar spice and more, sometimes they'll even say like an herbaceous or like dill flavor. Ooh, you know what I'm getting? Bay leaf. And that's not something I say often. Yeah. Sounds so good, I need a sip. I can definitely smell something root vegetable-y. Root vegetable? But it tastes like prunes and cherries to me. Ooh, can I pick the next one? Yeah, where do you wanna go next? I wanna go Monte Toro. Oh yeah, the number three. Yes, the number three. One of the things I wanna point out about all these two is that they're all, they're relatively older. For the most part, you can get a really old wine for a great price when it comes to Tempranillo and Rioja wines. And since we are talking about the age of these wines, something that's very common in the nomenclature of Spanish Rioja and Tempranillo wines is this system of aging their wines that I wanna show you that's on the bottle. So the word Crianza or Crianza as they pronounce it there in Spanish translates to a nursery. So it refers to a very young wine. This one only has to be aged for two years in total and one of them in the barrel. With a Reserva, that has to be aged for three years in total and at least one in barrel. And even though one year in barrel is the minimum, oftentimes they spend a lot more time than that. And there's a designation that I don't have here with me, which is Gran Reserva, that has to be aged for at least five years, two years in barrel minimum and two years in bottle minimum. Okay, this is probably our youngest wine. This is a 2021, a lot more purple in color, which is an indication of a younger wine. Okay, there's still some of that, I don't know, that root vegetable kind of thing going on there. The rhubarb-y root thing going on there. Rhubarb or whatever. Once again though, soft. Yes, smooth, silky. There's a silkiness to it. The acidity is not as high. It's not as mouthwatering as like say a Pinot Noir, for example. Okay, we got to pick one from the other side now. Yeah, let's try one more. And I think we should go for the classic. So let's go for the Rioja here. And that is a 2016, so that's also the oldest too. So we got eight years on that one and I'm going to need another glass. And this is the main reason right here, why we don't really hear or know too much about Tempranillo because it spent most of its life buried in a bottle of Rioja, where it's blended in with two other grapes. Grenache, or Garnacha as they call it in Spain. And the other one is Graciano. Graciano is even more rare. You don't see it very often. But I actually did a wine tasting last week and I served people a Graciano. Now, is it always blended with those grapes? Not always. Now, winemakers in the region can use their discretion, what they want the blend to be. And oftentimes they leave those other two out. So sometimes it will be 100% Tempranillo. Yeah, a lot more spicy. Immediately you recognize the American oak on there. So it's a lot more woody. It's got that tongue depressor kind of thing going on there. And there's that rhubarb again. It's like that root vegetable kind of thing. The acidity is a little bit higher in this one, but because it's blended, because there's some other grapes in there. So yeah, they're lifting it up a little bit. And the oak is really strong on this one too, the Rioja. The oak is strong with this one. For a 2016, eight years young, it's got a long way ahead of it. Good Rioja can last for a really long time. All right, so let's talk about some food pairings here. Obviously we have a bold red wine that's really strong in tannins, low in acidity, somewhat moderate alcohol, anywhere from 13 to 15%. Proteins are the first thing that come to mind. Obviously red meats are gonna be really good. Something tomato-based to me, savory, like stews would be pretty good, like a chili or a stew. I just revisited this guy right here, the Touro. And this has a really strong bay leaf element. I'm going back to that. Normally I don't call out bay leaf, but I'm really getting it out of this wine. And that leads me to beef stew. Right, that's kind of what I was thinking too. That's what I felt. You could do hard cheeses as well. Manchego would be indigenous to the region and an obvious choice too. As far as price is concerned, you have your everyday drinkers over here. Places like La Mancha, Touro, Ribera de Tuera. You're gonna spend anywhere from 10 to 15 to $20 for a bottle. Depending on the age, it's gonna be a little bit more expensive. Then over here you have the stuff that carries a little bit more cache, a little bit more of a reputation. The Rioja here was about $30. And this one particular brand right here, Pescara, has a very high reputation. The family that makes this has been in the business for a really long time and they're known for very high-end wines. So this one was the most expensive. This one cost me about $40. As a rule of thumb, do the blends tend to be more expensive than the single brand? Not necessarily because they're blends, but more often because they're Riojas. The name is held in high regard, so usually they command a higher price. All right, my friends, thanks so much for drinking Tempranillo with me today. I hope we taught you enough to scratch the surface so you can go out, get yourself some good value bottles, and also maybe a little higher end as well. And if you like these videos and you like what I'm doing here, be sure to subscribe to my channel. There's plenty more where that came from. I've got hundreds of videos on wine, spirits, and food pairings. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'll catch you for the next wine, region, and bottle. Cheers, everybody.