TEMPRANILLO
Dark forest berries, cooling and inviting, bright and fresh. Cherry cola, leather, violet, sarsaparilla. Dash of clove spice, nice glide and black cherry fruit carries the wine forward with energy, framed by tautly fitted tannins.
Mexican is a great match for Tempranillo, mix it up with different types of soft-shell Tortillas filled with prawns or pork with tomato salsa, goat’s cheese, fresh leaves, a squeeze of lime, and hot sauce.
91 points, James Suckling, December 2024:
Youthful and fresh, this has notes of raspberries, red cherries, white pepper and paprika on the nose, followed by a medium-bodied, lithe and lightly peppery palate. Drink now.
Reviews of the 2021 Tempranillo:
90 points, Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Companion 2022:
An everyday quaff, suggesting that handling of this early ripening variety is getting better. Bing cherry, iodine, lilac and lavender. The tension is serviced by reduction as much as a verdant lilt and vanillin streak of gentle tannins.
92 points, Nick Stock, James Suckling 2022:
A mid-weight red that has good purtity of blueberry and cherry fruit with a faint floral and white-pepper edge. Holds a sleek and succelent stance in the mouth and delivers a vividly fresh squeeze of tannin through the finish. Drink over the next 3 years. Screw cap.
Reviews of the 2020 Tempranillo:
92 points, Nick Stock, James Suckling 2021:
A wealth of blackcurrant, blueberry and violet florals that are really expressive and sweetly fragrant. The palate has a tautly fitted frame of tannin that carries juicy blue-fruit flavor. Fresh and crisp.
Best in Australian Tempranillo' - Young Gun on Wine:
AThis made the top-six lists of five tasters, with Wren placing it first on his sheet, while Andrew had it just one place back. Forbes, Jones and Infimo also rated it highly. “Cherry cola on the nose coupled with lifted red fruits such as cherries and plums – reminiscent of a summer berry pudding,” wrote Andrew. “The line of acid and tannin provide energy on the palate and carry the vibrant fruit which presents as juicy and moreish on the mid-palate."
Reviews of the 2019 Tempranillo:
92 points, Jane Faulkner, James Halliday Wine Companion, August 2021:
A lot of pizzazz packed into this with its cherry-accented fruit, sarsaparilla and woodsy spices. It's medium-bodied, juicy with firm tannins and a slight green edge on the finish means having this with food.
91 points, James Suckling:
This is a bold, vivacious style with plenty of deep-set blueberries and cassis and a smooth and bright, juicy palate that carries a long band of bright, blue-fruit flavour.
Reviews of the 2018 Tempranillo:
95 points, James Halliday 2020 Wine Companion:
"Full of flavour, texture and life. This is about as full-bodied as tempranillo gets and, even better, it comes dressed in velvet. Plum, black cherry and cola flavours sweep through the palate in convincing fashion. Fine-grained tannin stitches the finish into a neat package. It's good."
92 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front:
(Posted on 09 July 2020) "It would appear we are a little late on this one, as I note, while grabbing a bottle image, that they’re on to the 2019 on their web shop. Oh well. Come hither. Cherry and plum, a little earth, BBQ sausage, and spice. It’s medium-bodied, with pleasingly sooty tannin, ample fruit and balanced acidity, a bit of sweet strawberry freshness in the mix, and a nice long even finish. What a charming wine it is. Speaks of region and grape most eloquently."
2019 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show - Bronze Medal "Bright red fruit strawberry and fine powdery tannins. Soft juicy and within the frame of the varietal fruit with balanced plushness and fine tannins. Cherry ripe, chocolate. Nice crunch tannins. Exotic flavours reminiscent of an Icelandic picnic."
Reviews of 2017 Tempranillo:
James Halliday, 07 August 2018, www.winecompanion.com.au
"Full, bright hue; red and black cherry on the bouquet lead directly into the palate before savoury tannins try to take a grip on proceedings." 89 points
Mike Bennie, WBM, May/June 2018, 92 points
"A more serious-feeling Tempranillo than expected with concentration and richness on its side. Perfume is appropriately floral, rose hip tea- imbued and shows whiffs of choc- Turkish Delight, while the palate is more mulberry sweetness and a dash of clove/cinnamon spice. Some real glide here too. 14.5%"
Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review, May 2018, https://www.ozwinereview.com
"Another varietal ‘17 Vale red from Hither & Yon team. Molten, dark berry nose – it’s not Rioja but gee it’s expansive and thick fruited with that southern McLaren Vale inky density. At first I thought this might be too ripe and slick sweet, but the tannic depth and wafts of choc berry carries this forward. A genuinely substantial McLaren Vale Tempranillo. Best drinking: Wait a year or so to see it at its best and drink in 10. 17.5/20, 91/100. 14.5%, $27."
Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show, November 2017:
Gold Medal, 95 points
Reviews of 2016 Tempranillo:
93 points and red value star, James Halliday, August 2018:
Made from two pickings, almost 3 weeks apart. Open fermented, whole berries and bunches, and 6 months in French oak. Unequivocally varietal bouquet, with lifted aromas of fresh cherry, blueberry, and cola extract, spliced with a more savoury element. Fresh, juicy and flavoursome, but moderated by the fine tannin. Delicious.
90 points, Huon Hooke, February 2017:
Deep, young purple/red colour. The wine is full-bodied and fruit-driven on the palate with bold, bright young flavour and soft but persuasive tannins. The wine is very young and primal but very good. Balance and mouth-feel are excellent and it just remains to be seen what some bottle-age might bring.
90 points, Stuart Robinson, www.thevinsomniac.com, December 2016:
"Delicious Joven style: jubey, juicy, fruits of the forest mix. The kinda wine you want to sink your head into: cooling, calming, intriguing, inviting. There's a darker edge to the palate, a light rub of tannin. Medium bodied, a twist of aniseed - lush fruit. Strikes this balance between downright simplicity, with a little dark underbelly. Would easily handle a summer-necessary chill.
2015 Tempranillo reviews:
Mike Bennie. WBM Magazine. May 2016. 93 points.
"This is Tempranillo marching to its own beat. Neither joven nor Riserva, it's a slurpy, slippery, medium weight thing that shows choc-cherry and anise characters in perfume and flavours, lushness of fruit and a lightly sandy finish. It's seriously great drinking and could take a light chill too."
91 points, Wine Enthusiast (USA), March 2016:
Dark cherry in colour with black infections at the core, this wine has a pleasantly vinous nose of pomegranate seeds and blueberries. Sweet spice and perk acidity invigorate the medium bodied palate, while supple rounded tannins hang in the background. The finish lingers with cinnamon-dappled raspberry pie flavors. Even if only moderately complex, this wine is incredibly easy to sip. Drink now through to 2018.
91 points, Stuart Robinson, www.thevinsomniac.com, March 2016:
Savoury, woody hints, flashes of blue fruit, a little black cherry. In the house style: a juicy fruit-bomb, not lacking in a little savoury depth - a second pick of fruit comprising 12% of the wine was allowed a little extra hang-time, with some whole bunch inclusion - a little acidic reach into the corners of the palate. A light rub of tannin, some black licorice and a little bitter cocoa. Juicy, moreish, another winner from the H&Y team.
Huon Hooke, March 2016:
Deep red colour with a trace of purple. Dark cherry fruit pervades the bouquet, becoming chaffy with airing, while the palate is ironstony and firm, straightforward and plum-pippy, ending with a trace of bitterness. A pretty good temp.
88 points, Andrew Graham, March 2016:
Juicy red fruit, wet brick Temp varietal characters, then more raspberry and cola fruit with a little earth. It’s a nice 'joven' style this, all fruit, minimal oak and light sandy tannins. Slurpable, juicy wine, if a tad simple. Best drinking: 2017-2021.
