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Yarra Valley Tempranillo
I took a short drive out to the Yarra Valley today, mainly to take a few photos but ended up tasting a few local Tempranillos after it started to rain about 30 minutes after I got there. I got some ok cloud shots though. I'll give a free subscription to Tinto y Blanco to anyone who can guess where the photo is taken from.
So I tasted some wine and had a bit of a chat as why they chose to grow tempranillo and if they had a particular style they were going for. Strangely they said it was something different, people liked it and they (the owners) had always liked tempranillo based wines. It was strange as the wines were very much in the dry red style showing very little character. Not that they were bad wines, just ordinary: a bit too ripe, too much time in new oak. Quite pricey too. One place mentioned Alion as the inspiration for their wine, I couldn't see it if it was. And they are winning gold medals at wineshows with this wine too, which makes me really question the validity of the the wine show system.
Then again we expericed this when Pinot Noir was the new cool grape to grow 20 years ago. New growing techniques and in some cases different clones were needed to really get the quality up. Perhaps that's what Tempranillo needs. Is it vine age? I don't think so, there are a at least a couple of cracking examples the come from young vines in Australia. Perhaps the Yarra isn't the place for Tempranillo? Still, Australian growers are mostly at the start of the learning curve for Tempranillo and there is a way to go before it lives up to the hype I hear in the wine press. I bought a couple of bottles anyway, maybe all they need is some support…
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Hi Dave,
Have you had any Oz tempranillos that you rate? Where do you think they might grow well in Australia?
How about Albariño?
Cheers
Dave
Dave,
A belated happy birthday.
I’ve no idea where, but I think the clouds are cumulus mediocris! My son has a book with cloud pictures and I’ve become slightly obsessed with cloud spotting
Agree with David’s post entirely. A lot of hype about the amount of Tempranillo in the ground but there ain’t much good wine around yet. However, Australian wine makers are bloody good at persisting, learning, applying themselves to conquer such challenges. Sangiovese and Nebbiolo are now being done well by a few Australian winemakers who are fastiduous about clonal selection and appropriate handling in the winery. I’m sure it won’t be long before Tempranillo catches up.
I tasted Pondalowie’s Tempranillo 2006 recently which is the best Aussie Temp I’ve had.
Cheers
Dave,
There is a lot of good stuff around, Pondalowie seem to be the leaders at the moment. But they have the advantage that Dom works in Portugal every year with Tempranillo (or Tinta Roriz as its known there). With more and more winemakers doing stints in Spain as well, this can only help.
The areas I see doing well at the moment are Canberra, Bendigo, Margaret River and Adalade hills. I think Beechworth has all the right things to make good tempranillo, but I haven’t seen much worth writing about yet. They all seem to be using the same clones at the moment and I think we need a bit more diversity. Also picking clones from the right regions of Spain for our conditions is important, Rioja is very different climatically to say Toro. As for Albarino, it seems to be doing well just about everywhere!
Ed, I think you are right, well spotted!
Mal, We will get there, there will be a lot of swearing and spiting but we will get to a point where good tempranillo is being made in an Aussie style
Only a guess - Yering Station?
Close, its Chandon.