Over the last two years, Tempranillo as a varietal wine was heightened in my attention as a food friendly alternative to Cabernet and Merlot. Not only is it versatile, but it can benefit from being slightly chilled, which is surely an asset during warm summer days that were the norm in 2024. But growers and winemakers who are concerned about climate warming have even better reason to take a closer look at Tempranillo. As an early ripener that can withstand the heat, “The Temp” is finally gaining some traction on the West Coast and in Texas.
“The Temp” was a wine named by the forward-thinking Mitch Cosentino in the 1990s for his Tempranillo grown in Lodi. Cosentino, whose current label is Pure Cru, was an early champion of Cabernet Franc, Meritage wines, and Tempranillo. He convinced grower Alan Kirschenmann to plant a small block of Tempranillo in one of the sandiest pockets of the Mokelumne River AVA in Lodi. He bottled “The Temp” over ten vintages, but Mitch, who has earned the right to be called “iconic,” was pretty much going solo on this one.
The truly odd thing is that during California’s highly charged vineyard expansion and replanting era of the 1990s, Tempranillo was left in the dust—or maybe out of it—so to speak. A little research reveals that in 1993 a smattering of the variety was planted in the Red Willow Vineyard in Washington’s Yakima Valley. A year later, Earl Jones founded his Abacela Estate in Southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley with the goal of specializing in Tempranillo. However, in the bustling North Coast wine regions, Tempranillo was not part of the action.
With 600,000 acres now planted worldwide, Tempranillo is the third most widely planted variety exceeded only by Cabernet and Merlot. In light of that, you have to wonder why interest in it was sporadic at best during the planting boom of the ‘90s on the West Coast. It turns out that it was not until 1996 that the name “Tempranillo” was officially recognized by both the state of California and the federal government, the folks at the BATF. No kidding—you can look it up.
Before then, the grape had long gone by other names such as Valdepeñas, Tinta Roriz, and Valdepenhas. For some reason, the professors at the UC Davis viticultural school favored the Valdepeñas name when evaluating and focusing on varieties in the early years.
Let’s turn things over to the serious people who have studied the grape and climate. Greg Jones is now CEO of Abacela (pictured above) and, following the lead of his parents, he has emerged as the go-to person for Tempranillo updates. And as a climatologist, Dr. Jones has also been quite busy lately talking about wine and climate change nationally.
So, right from the onset, Greg didn’t hold back. He began with this: “The history of Tempranillo in America is an interesting story. The reason that California does not grow much Tempranillo has more to do with history than suitability. The western US wine industry was established on French, Italian, and German varieties as well as winemaking culture influenced by those nations. By contrast, Spain and Portugal went into Central and South America, but with little acceptance of Iberian varieties in California early on.”
Then he nails it: “If early researchers at UC Davis had decent clones and planted Tempranillo in the right places, we might have been dominated by something other than Cabernet Sauvignon!”
He continues, “For most of the 20th century, California’s grape crush reports listed the grape as just “Valdepeñas,” and it was considered a minor variety because most of it was planted in warmer regions of the Central Valley and used primarily for ‘jug’ or fortified sweet wines.”
I double checked and by 1998, sure enough, almost all the 400 acres of the variety planted were in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. Talking about both the name confusion and the way the variety was relegated by UC Davis to jug wine production, Greg adds, “It is a long story that my Dad and I have researched extensively. I will write an article or book on it someday.”
The second reason why it isn’t better known today, he elaborates, is that, “The history of Tempranillo clones is very incomplete and new ones are only recently being evaluated to any degree. UC Davis FPS (Foundation Plant Services) published something a while ago. They also have updated their website (https://fps.ucdavis.edu/fgrdetails.cfm?varietyid=1507) to include many new selections.”
Clonal selection, I’m beginning to sense, may be just as key to understanding and working with Tempranillo as it is to, say, Pinot Noir. A few months ago, when talking to Louisa Sawyer of Verdad, she mentioned that when working with one clone of Tempranillo that produced small berries and high in tannins, she had to blend 40% Syrah to fill it out and soften it.
Nowadays Lodi is back in the picture thanks to the ongoing efforts of Markus and Liz Bokisch, who founded their winery in 1999. Spanish wines led by Albariño and Tempranillo share their winery’s signature title. Apparently also frustrated with the clones available, they suitcased in a Tinto Fino clonal selection from the Ribera del Duero region. That clone is described as one possessing “small berries and small clusters.”
Willing to share and having no issues with UC Davis, in 2001 that selection of Bokisch’s Tempranillo was donated to UC Davis’ Foundation Plant Services and is now made available to the entire winegrowing industry as “Tempranillo 12.”
That takes us back to Greg Jones and his family’s 25+ years of ongoing clonal studies at the family’s Abacela Estate. Since his Ph.D is in climatology, I suggest you do as I did—and hold onto your hats during this clonal whirlwind that follows:
“At Abacela we originally planted clones 1, 2, and 3 with 1 clearly producing the best quality fruit. We subsequently planted 5, 11, 12, and 13 through our work with my colleague Jesus Yuste from ITACyL in Valladolid, Spain. We have not planted any of the selections above 13 described on the FPS website referenced previously.”
At this point, maybe only total wine geeks should read on. However, what follows is from the most in depth study of Tempranillo clones available, so proceed if you really wish to dig in:
“Below is a combination of my father’s and my thoughts on what we grow and what we would suggest.
—Clone 1 is the best quality but has variable set issues (inflorescence necrosis, star flowers) that make it not always economically sustainable.
—Clone 2 does not produce as good fruit as 1 or 3.
—Clone 3, like clone 2, bears heavy crops when trained on canes, but on spur cordon the yields can be brought down to appropriate levels. Clones 2 & 3 tend to be redder in the fruit spectrum (not as dark as clone 1).
—For Clone 5 (Tinta del Pais), the jury is still out, but tends to be like clone 3. We do not have this clone anymore.
—Clone 11 (Tinta de Toro) appears to be the best of the new clones that we have planted. Bears moderatly on canes and the fruit profile can easily reach dark fruit. Good cluster morphology (not too big, not too small), as well as a propensity to ripen with good cluster synchrony. Appears the closest to clone 1 quality without the necrosis problems.
—Clone 12 (Duero) bears moderate to heavy on canes, and less so on spur cordons. This fruit is wonderful, with a red to dark color and good productivity.
—Clone 13 (Tinta del Pais-type clone) bears moderate to heavy on canes, better than Clone 5 and one that we are very high on for both yield and quality.
—My take on it if I were planting today would be clone 11 (Tinta de Toro), clone 12 (Duero), and clone 13 (Tinta del Pais). A mix of the three is probably the best way to go, with FPS 11 being the best in my opinion.
—Of course, all of this is referenced to our climate, landscapes, and soils, which are intermediate and tend to match the average conditions in Ribera del Duero.”
But if all that was “information overload” for you, Greg kindly summarized his views on cultivating Tempranillo and the challenges. In a nutshell, “Tempranillo is a relatively easy variety to grow. The key is planting it in a location with warm, dry summers, and a growing season that is between 6.5-7.5 months, not longer. Ripening occurs best in locations with moderate daytime temperatures and cool nighttime temperatures (high diurnal temperature ranges).”
And as for the future with global warming, he added this: “I believe it to be a fairly flexible variety, producing across a range of growing season temperatures. It handles heat reasonably well, can manage moderate drought well, and is not overly prone to sunburn.”
At present, California has about 1,000 acres planted to Tempranillo and Oregon has over 400. The Lodi area leads California with 130 acres there and close to a dozen wineries there marketing a Tempranillo. Both areas are experiencing modest growth and now over 40 wineries in Southern Oregon are on The Temp bandwagon. In the Foothills, St. Amant has been making Amador County Tempranillo since planting it in 1998.
A Few Thoughts from Winemakers
One thing that fascinates me as I have tasted my way through quite a few Tempranillos is how West Coast winemakers consider options and come up with their final blend. Like their Spanish colleagues, many use some Grenache, but more often I see others using Syrah and/or Malbec. Among its four versions based on Tempranillo, Abacela makes a 50/50 blend with Malbec.
One pleasant surprise was the use of Touriga Nacional by both Weisinger Cellars and Kriselle. Eric Weisinger explained the choice this way: “Sometimes Touriga can have a bit more acid than Tempranillo, so blending can/could be an advantage in that scenario. Sometimes Touriga can lend some nice aromatics…a bit of lavender at times. Another variety I think can go well with Tempranillo is Malbec as it can round up or make Tempranillo a little plusher. I never use a lot though, usually less than 10%.”
Winemakers seem to enjoy exploring ways to make something special, as Kiley Evans of Padigan wines explains:
I’ve done a lot of experimental blending with Tempranillo involving almost every other variety you can think of from Merlot to Grenache to Pinot Noir to Viognier just to see what happens and the results have been both predictable and surprising.”
He continues: “The challenge with Tempranillo is acid/tannin balance. In our little corner of the world (Oregon’s Rogue Valley) Tempranillo typically has very little of the former and a surplus of the latter. The thing is that you can’t just add acid because that often results in high astringency because of how the tannins are structured. I’ve also found that blending can easily mask varietal character, so you have to be careful, and Tempranillo seems to need longer to integrate after blending, so I’ve been blending very early for a number of years. I usually start Tempranillo trials in January or February with blending in May/June following the vintage, and the wines then have 14-16 more months in barrel after blending.”
While after blending most winemakers follow the Spanish tradition of aging in American oak barrels or some combination of American and French oak, the barrel aging regime is another area being explored. I just noticed that Peter William is soon to release its 2020 Reserve Tempranillo, aged 100% in French oak. From a low yielding vintage with concentrated fruit, the Reserve is said, “to take Tempranillo to a whole new level of intensity. Two other highly innovative wineries, Curran in Santa Barbara and Tooth & Nail in Paso Robles, aged their Tempranillos exclusively in French oak.
So, 30 years after “The Temp” was launched, many other adventurous winemakers are giving Tempranillo their full attention. My interest in the wine can be traced to a visit to Abacela two years ago. The tasting concluded with “Paramour,” which is the winery’s Reserve aged for two years in oak and four years in the bottle before its release. Incredible wine—not likely a profit maker but truly a “labor of love.”
Speaking of love, here are a few last words from Marimar Torres, in response to a query from me:
NR: “How do you personally define a great Tempranillo?”
Marimar Torres: “It’s a wine that ages beautifully, with a nose reminiscent of ripe fruit, dark cherries, dried figs and black tea, beautifully integrated with the notes of anise and graphite contributed by the elegant oak. The palate is savory and mineral, with plush tannins and powerful structure that promise a very long life — 15 to 20 years for sure.”