30x Tempranillo

30x Tempranillo

The theme of our WINELIFE tasting this time is Tempranillo from €7.50. And there are a lot of them: 88 wines poured in. Cheffelier Sigurd Snoeys and Magda van der Rijst were surprised yet again by the versatile talent of this grape. Taste it for yourself in this selection. - TEXT MAGDA VAN DER RIJST | IMAGE SHUTTERSTOCK

30x Tempranillo

From fresh & fruity to warm & spicy

It was once thought that wines made from Tempranillo had no face of their own. They were not wrong, but they were flat and neutral, and especially suited to an ageing in wood. Only after aging in barrels of mainly American oak did the wines gain character. It certainly made them recognisable, but that view has since been revised and the wines have changed.

Tradition & terroir

Traditional wood-aged Tempranillos still exist, but many winemakers are taking a different approach. They take their terroir much more seriously, showing that tempranillo can pass on the characteristics of its origin and deliver wines in a variety of styles. All of which came to the table. Joining us as a guest taster was Sigurd Snoeys, chef - chef and sommelier - in his own wine bar-shop Fou. Our selection ranges from vive wines with fresh fruit that taste best chilled to wood-aged greats for with game, and everything else in between.

Spain rules

Wine sellers were asked to send in wines containing at least 85 per cent tempranillo, priced from €7.50. Tempranillo belongs to Spain, no doubt about that, but you will increasingly find it elsewhere thanks to its ability to thrive in dry and hot areas. Unfortunately, the entries did not reflect that. We received 88 wines; all but one German wine were Spanish. Wines from Castilla y Léon, Cigales, Navarra, Toro, Utiel-Requena and Valencia were among them, but the majority came from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Overall, the quality was good.

Tasting

As always, the wines were served blind in Zalto Universal glasses, at a temperature of 15-16°C. Occasionally we picked up the larger Riedel Cabernet Sauvignon glass from the Veritas series. The wines were arranged in series by region, style and vintage. The tasting portraits were arranged by provenance and within them alphabetically by winery name. We no longer hand out stars, as the wines we give attention to are all winners. The tasting portraits do show what the wine excels at, when it is best served and what you could eat with it.

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Want to know more about 30x Tempranillo? You can read about it in Winelife edition 73. You can order this one here!

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