The many faces of Spanish Tempranillo
 

Adam Holden, Director to the Chairman’s Office, guides us through the many guises of Spain’s fine wine grape

Tempranillo: widely planted, wildly misunderstood, and shamefully overshadowed by other international varieties. How is it that the fourth most-planted variety in the world is so little known or understood?

Partly, its ubiquity in Spain is obscured by historic naming conventions; when we think of Spanish fine wine, it is “Rioja” that springs to mind, not “Tempranillo”. But, of all the grapes, it deserves a more storied reputation.

 
 

TEMPRANILLO’S POWER AND GLORY

 

Tempranillo is a grape with a vast range: its thick skin can produce wines which show enormous power. Conversely, when grown in cooler climates it shows delicacy and red summer fruit which is akin to Pinot Noir. (In fact, it was once thought that Tempranillo and Pinot might be related before DNA profiling put that idea to rest.) In the high vineyard areas of Rioja Alta and Alavesa its tendency to ripen early makes it suitable for the short growth cycle of these mountain vineyards. From these cool sites emerge wines of ethereal freshness.

Grown in such cool conditions, it is typically blended with hardier wines to achieve that all-important balance. Garnacha, from warmer sites in the lower vineyards of Rioja, is its most favoured bedfellow; Garnacha’s tendencies towards over-enthusiasm, not least in the form of high alcohol, make it ideal as a blending partner. The varieties of Mazuelo, Graciano and Viura (a white grape) also feature in the blends. Through this coalition, the great wines of Rioja find their balance and house style.

At one end of the style spectrum you’ll find the sublime elegance of López de Heredia, where traditional long-cask aging (Reservas spend six years in old cask, Gran Reserve 10) has been their ensign since 1877.

In contrast Finca Allende’s modern approach eschews the Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) labels of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva in favour of making wines the way they think the vineyards demand. Their use of French rather than the more traditional American oak is another nod to modernity. The wines are lush with dark fruit and cherries, and a notable but beautifully integrated oak influence giving depth, spice and enticing sweetness.

 
 

THE GREAT WINE OF MADRID

 

In Castilla y León, entirely freed from the restrictions of DOP, Jérôme Bougnaud selects parcels of forgotten vines, some of which pre-date the phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800s to create the “Great wine of Madrid”. Managing the vineyards under a biodynamic regime promotes the vitality of the soils which they consider intrinsic to the personality of the wines.

The Galia is a beautifully fragranced wine, full of nuance and seeming to capture the essence of the land in its wild personality. It’s an accomplished illustration of the fact that the prestigious regions have no monopoly on great wine in Spain.

In La Mancha, Tempranillo adopts the local sobriquet Cencibel. Here, the most basic wines are a blend of red and white. More serious examples, capable of aging in oak and bottle, are made in the DOP of Valdepeñas from blends with Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Syrah. Winemakers using this type of blending are, perhaps, tipping their caps to Ribera del Duero’s most famous offspring, Vega Sicilia and its extraordinary wines.

 
 

THE RIVAL TO RIOJA

Ribera del Duero is Rioja’s main competition for pre-eminence among Spanish wines. It is another cool region, with a similarly short growing season. The vineyards are higher which, coupled with lower rainfall, makes conditions more extreme. Tinto Fino, as Tempranillo is known here, has evolved to suit the rigors of this tough climate; it’s a robust variant of that found in Rioja. The result is powerful wines with domineering fruit and structure and, while Tinto Fino has the body and power to stand alone, blends can be found. Peter Sisseck’s profound wines from Dominio de Pingus, where three parcels of ancient Tempranillo go into making fewer than 500 cases wine each year, are nothing short of biblical. The wines of Cillar de Silos give a more accessible glance at the region, yielding generous dark cherry fruit with floral notes of violets. As at Finca Allende in Rioja they favour French oak over North American for their casks and their Joven (which never encounters a cask) is a delightful fruity wine combining a supple structure bright fruit.

Resilient and adaptable, from finessed to forceful, in blends or flying solo, and with or without oak age, it’s hard to imagine why this grape of many aliases has not conquered the world. But perhaps there is still time.