Tempranillo

Grape Vari­ety: Tempranillo

Geog­ra­phy: Home is Spain’s Rioja region. Also grown in Argentina and Portugal.

Viti­cul­ture: Flour­ishes in Spain’s cooler regions of Rioja and Rib­era del Duero.

Varietal/Blend: The major con­stituent of red Rioja wines. Used in pro­duc­ing Port as well as for blending—mainly with reds from the Dão and Douro regions of Portugal.

Fla­vor & Char­ac­ter: Young Tem­para­nillo has a dis­tinc­tive straw­berry and cherry fla­vor. When aged, tends to have a plummy spici­ness over­laid with hints of vanilla oak.

Vini­fi­ca­tion: It com­bines well with oak in Reserva and Gran Reserva wines in Rioja and takes on the sweet vanilla fla­vor of the oak barrels.

Style: Ranges from young, juicy unoaked to pres­ti­gious, age-oaked wines.

Body, Dry/Sweet: Ranges from light bod­ied to fuller bod­ied well oaked wines.

Notes: Called Tinta Roriz in Portugal.