Southern Oregon Tempranillo
Thick-skinned tempranillo may be Spain’s most popular red wine varietal: it’s used to make inexpensive wine as well as the country’s most noble bottlings. Tempranillo is also becoming the backbone grape of the Southern Oregon winemaking territory, whose climate nearly mirrors that of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. With mouth-filling tannins and almost no acidity, the Southern Oregon tempranillo sets the area’s winemakers apart from their pinot brethren up north. Here are four tempranillos worth tasting. —Condé Cox
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2006 Umpqua Valley Vintages $35-36 Abacela Tempranillo Estate Made by Abacela’s founder and owner, Earl Jones (the first person to plant tempranillo in the Umpqua Valley in 1995), this tempranillo tastes like ripe boysenberries and leaves a long, lingering flavor on the palate. Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards Reserve This impressive tempranillo harbors intensely rich textures (the result of firm tannins) overlaid with the scent of brewing tea leaves, a typical characteristic of the varietal. |
2005 Anna Maria Rogue Valley $24 Intensely concentrated and well balanced, this wine is further evidence that tempranillo is suited to the warm afternoons and cool nights of the Rogue Valley. |
2005 Roxy Ann Rogue Valley Tempranillo $30 Roxy Ann, an eight-year-old winery located on the historic and picturesque grounds of Medford’s famous Hillcrest Pear Orchard, produced this cellar-worthy wine. It represents Roxy Ann’s best bottling to date. |
Published: March 2009
