Back Pocket Wines Castanets 2007

The Granite Belt region in Queensland seems to have had quite a few acres of Tempranillo planted over the past 5 or so years.  This wine is made from 5 year old vines in the joven style, with partial carbonic maceration.  The vines are D8V12 clone, which is a UC Davis clone and seems to be the main clone in use in Australia at the moment.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone using a different clone in Australia, as there is surely more available (there are something like 200+ clones of Tempranillo in Spain).

Deep red in colour with purple to the rim.  The wine opened up with a bit of rubber and nuts on the nose, however this blew off in a few minutes to reveal some earthy blackberry and cherry pie.  In the mouth it shows a very correct expression of a joven Tempranillo: savoury red cherry and blackberry with dusty tannins.  Fairly good balance, the acid pokes out a little at this stage.  But all in all a very encouraging example.  86 Pts.

Source: Winery Sample Price: $19 Closure: Screwcap

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