Simple Spanish Food

New Organic Tempranillos Worth Trying

We recently tried two organic tempranillos, a Spartico from Valencia and a Viña Cuesta Colorá from La Mancha.  I wanted to try them  after reading  Matt Kramer's praise for organic wines in the Wine Spectator, and I'm glad we did.  Both (especially the Spartico) are light, clean, fresh, with some fresh fruit, just  what a tempranillo from these regions should be, but too seldom is, at least here in the U.S.

In Spain, finding this easy-drinking style of tempranillo from La Mancha or even further south is easy. Go to just about any bar in Madrid and ask for the vino tinto de la casa and you'll probably get a light and mellow tempranillo  from Valdepeñas--a perfect accompaniment for just about any tapa on the menu. But for some reason the wine exporters seem to lean towards a completely different style of tempranillo when choosing for the U.S. market. They go for heavy, thick, high alcohol wines with often muddled flavors of overripe fruit, a style we rarely come across in Spain.   

But this isn't the case with these two organic tempranillos.  Is it because they are organic? Because they contain no sulfites? I don't know. But if you're looking for a light red of the sort Spaniards would actually drink with paella or countless tapas, these organic tempranillos are the way to go.

Both of these tempranillos are vegan. Neither has added sulfites, so it's probably best to finish the bottle the day or day after you open it. We paid under $15 for the Viña Cuesta Colorá and the Spartico was a steal at around $8 a bottle.

 

Wine from La Mancha: Artero 2010 Tempranillo

Artero 2010 Tempranillo is yet more proof of the amazing versatility of the tempranillo grape.  It also costs less than eight dollars a bottle.

Go to the Spanish wine aisle in just about any wine shop and you are bound to see all sorts of wines--Riojas, Tarragonas, Riberas del Duero, and many more--all made with tempranillo or tempranillo-blends, but all completely different from each other.  Artero 2010 Tempranillo from La Mancha is no exception.  If anything, it's an even more unusual example of tempranillo than most. 

Riojas and tempranillo-based Navarras often combine a light, strawberry acidity with oak and vanilla flavors.   Good Toros, also based on tempranillo (though there is some debate about this) are powerful, extremely dry, but balanced. Then there are the oceans of tempranillo-based table wines that taste like ordinary table wines.  I find that many of the inexpensive Yeclas and Jumillas fall into this last category.

Artero Tempranillo from La Mancha lies at another extreme of the tempranillo spectrum.

It's almost sweet.

It's not overpoweringly sweet (like the new Spanish "moscatos" I recently posted about) nor is it dessert wine, but it has hints of dried fruits and at least some of their sweetness. 

This is the sort of wine I would have with nuts and cheese as an evening tapa, almost as though it were port.  It's certainly not port, but it is close enough to be enjoyed in a similar way.  With 14% alcohol, it's nearly as strong as port too. 

When I first tried this tempranillo from La Mancha, I was shocked. Once I got over that, I found that I liked it.