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Tempranillo, Alexander Valley

Tempranillo, Alexander Valley Wine Details
Price: $25.00 per bottle

Description: This is a bold wine with plenty of blueberry & blackberry fruit as well as exuberant white pepper. There is a concentration on the extracted fruit and a slight tension within the youthful tannins that should allow this wine to improve for years. All this fruit and spice is backed with vanilla, leather, and smoke.

Varietal Definition
Tempranillo:
The Tempranillo is to Rioja what Pinot Noir is to Burgundy. By far Spain's most noble indigenous grape it has similar characteristics to the Pinot - strawberries when young, earthy vegetal when mature - and it ages very well. It ripens early ('temprana' is the Spanish for 'early') is thick-skinned and gives good colour and extract but low alcohol and acidity. In Rioja it is blended with the more fiery Garnacha and a little Mazuelo and Graciano. It is grown throughout Spain but very much as a grape for blending as opposed to a straight varietal. Outside Spain the grape is quite prolific in Argentina and to a lesser extent in California.


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