Tempranillo: A Quick Guide To Buying One of Spain’s Most Popular Wines

Finding good wine is difficult. It’s especially challenging when you have to overcome vocabulary and labels in a foreign language.

Tempranillo is enjoyable and affordable, but it’s easy to get confused when buying it.

There are two main challenges of Tempranillo.

But as soon as you understand them, you will be able to buy Tempranillo with confidence.

Let’s dive in to explore the challenges and then discover some Tempranillo’s worth your time and money.

Challenge 1: Tempranillo Is A Grape With Many Names From Many Places

Tempranillo is grown throughout Spain and Portugal.

Thanks to regional language differences, it goes by dozens of different names throughout the Iberian Peninsula. This increases the difficulty of finding a good one.

While you don’t need to memorize every variation, here are few key ones to note and their associated regions worth exploring:

• Tinto Fino — Ribera Del Duero
• Tinta del País — throughout Spain, Ribera del Duero and Rioja
• Tinta de Toro — Toro
• Tinta Roriz — Northern Portugal

Challenge 2: Tempranillo Is A Wine Of Many Styles

There are two major categories of styles for Tempranillo: young and aged.

Young Tempranillo are lighter wines that are more fruity with a bit of spice. They lack complexity and are typically made in Central Spain. These are your daily drinkers and great bases for Sangria, typically less than 10 USD.

Aged Tempranillo is a huge spectrum of wines.

These wines can vary drastically in price. Aged Tempranillo can start around 20–35 USD, but it also makes some of Spain’s most expensive wines.

For example, Vega Sicilia goes for hundreds of dollars and has been called “better than sex.”

From Cork Dork, as overheard at a wine event by Bianca Bosker.

Vega Sicilia — Tempranillo from Ribera Del Duero — is still on my bucket list…for obvious reasons.

On Tempranillo bottles, you’ll see terms which indicate additional aging. Cosecha, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva indicate aging from 0–5 years respectively.

However, some producers label their expensive wines Cosecha, meaning no aging requirements. This prevents them from being tied to a specific standard.

Because they spend more time in barrel and bottle, Aged Tempranillo have more complexity and a higher price.

Tempranillo Wines To Try

I’m hesitant to make sweeping suggestions, but then again, you’re here for my wine advice.

Of the four producers named below, I’ve tasted different bottlings (Cosecha-Gran Reserva) over many vintages. And there was never a wine that I didn’t like.

• La Rioja Alta
• Cune
• Matsu
• Señorio de P.Peciña

Tempranillo Wines To Avoid

My advice here is simple: Avoid the cheap price and the eye-catching label. It’s likely someone has spent far too much time marketing to lure you in at this price range.

But, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment at the $10–12 price range, because these wines can deliver tremendous value and pleasure.

Tempranillo In A Nutshell

Here are the essentials of Tempranillo.

1. It has many names and grows in a variety of places.
2. It has a range of styles from fruity, youthful to “better than sex”.
3. The wines scale in price from $10 to $400+.

As such, Tempranillo is a the perfect wine to grow with as your wine journey evolves.

You can start with the inexpensive daily drinkers. From there, you can explore the differences of aged Tempranillo in the different regions of Spain.

Do you want to get less dumb about wine?

1. Follow me on Medium → Brian McCann
2. Subscribe to my weekly wine newsletter: Wine Blueprint. New issues come out every Friday, and I love answering reader questions (in fact this article was inspired by one)
3. Check out more of my wine articles below:

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