Tempranillo

Legend has it that Tempranillo was brought to Spain by French monks on a pilgrimage from Burgundy to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, though studies suggest that the grape originated in Rioja or Navarra within northern Spain. Some have asserted that Tempranillo is related to Pinot Noir or Cabernet Franc, but these assertions have never been substantiated. Tempranillo is certainly Spain’s most important indigenous grape variety and was once called “Spain’s answer to Cabernet Sauvignon” by Jancis Robinson, as it often plays a parallel role in its blended wines. Tempranillo is the main grape variety in many of Spain’s most prominent regions, including Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Toro, and the grape is known as Cencibel, Ull de Llebre, Tinta de País, Tinto Fino, Tinta de Toro, and various other monikers, depending on where it is grown in Spain.

FLAVORS

Tempranillo has a very wide range of expression depending on where its grown and how it is vinified, though it is typically medium-to-full bodied, with fairly high tannin content and moderate acidity that will vacillate quite a bit depending on climatic conditions. The grape emphasizes savory flavors more so than most other grape varieties, exhibiting notes of fresh tobacco leaf, leather, baked earth, dried herbs, and spice, along with fruit flavors of plum, cherry, tomato, dried fig, and orange peel.

VITICULTURE + WINEMAKING

Tempranillo is so named because it tends to ripen several weeks earlier (‘temprano’ means ‘early’ in Spanish) than its usual blending partners like Garnacha. Tempranillo has fairly thick and rugged skins and can provide a significant amount of color and tannin depending on the desire of the winemaker. Wine styles can range from light and fruity carbonic versions to inky black and massive versions from warmer regions like Toro or Ribera del Duero. Tempranillo grown in warm years or hot climates can produce wines with low acid, so well-monitored harvest times are important. It is traditionally trained ‘en vaso’ as a bush vine with no trellising, though trellising has increased with new plantings in order to achieve higher yields. Traditionally, Tempranillo is aged in American oak barrels which can impart flavors of vanilla, dill, and coconut, but it responds sublimely to being aged in French oak, too. Tempranillo is nearly a one-country grape, being Spain’s most widely planted and important red variety, but a few areas outside of Spain utilize the grape, including Portugal, Australia, Argentina, southern France, and the United States.

FOOD + WINE

Tempranillo is wonderfully versatile with food, though it reaches its apogee when paired with Jamón Ibérico– as the saying goes, what grows together goes together! Almost any kind of lamb dish goes very well with Tempranillo, including braised lamb shanks, lamb cutlets, or roast lamb, and traditional pork dishes like chorizo, morcilla, or pork meatballs (albondigas) work very well, too. Aged sheep’s milk cheeses, Moroccan fare, and dishes with red peppers or paprika spice also find a home with Tempranillo. And don’t rule out dry-rubbed barbecue, pizza, and Mexican food!

DID YOU KNOW?

• The leaves of the Tempranillo vine turn a bright red hue late in the fall, this provides a viewing event for many Spaniards
• Tempranillo vines are easily identifiable by the deep lobes and jagged edges of their leaves
• Tempranillo is one of the main varieties used in the production of Port wine in Portugal’s Douro Valley, where it is called Tinto Roriz. It is known mostly as Aragonez elsewhere in Portugal
• Tempranillo is most often blended with other grape varieties and rarely makes a single-varietal wine
• Total area planted to Tempranillo increased almost fivefold between 1990 and 2010, and in 2020 it is the third-most planted variety in the world behind Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot

WORLD TEMPRANILLO DAY