2023 Regional Tempranillo

Have you tried this delicious alternative varietal yet? Although Tempranillo is still a relatively unknown wine in Australia, this native Spanish variety has seen a huge increase in vineyard area since it was first planted in 1994. Australia is now home to approximately 10% of all Tempranillo plantings around the world! 

Millbrook Winemaker Emma Gillespie takes a hands-off winemaking approach when it comes to this wine and said: "Tempranillo offers more expressive fruit characters and a medium-bodied structure ... It’s important to let the grapes speak for themselves and to respect what is going to be reflected in the wine from the vineyard.

“The aim is to have a shorter time fermenting on skins, and then to press to seasoned oak, producing a fruit-driven, lightly framed wine.”

Emma said one of her favourite things about Tempranillo is its food-friendly nature. She suggested some of her favourite foods and said: “pizza, rabbit stew with polenta or lighter meals like tapas." Yum!

colour

Vibrant ruby purple.

aroma

Dark forest fruits and plums with an underlying hint of spice and violet florals. 

palate

The wine is medium-bodied with soft, silky tannin and has amazing varietal fruit characteristics. The blackberry and plummy fruit flavours are juicy, sumptuous and linger on the palate, drawn long by succulent tannins.

cellaring

Drinking beautifully now and will continue to do so for the next five years.

vintage

In Geographe, a long and warm summer allowed all varieties to achieve ripeness in the absence of disease or bird pressure. Fruit quality was excellent, with exceptional flavour ripeness and great natural acidity. 

winemaking

The fruit came into the winery at perfect ripeness. De-stemmed into stainless fermenters, inoculated for both primary fermentation and malolactic fermentation. Aged in older French oak puncheons for 12 months before being prepared for bottling. 

region

Geographe

variety

Tempranillo 

analysis

• Alcohol: 14.5%
• pH: 3.64
• Acidity (TA): 5.40 g/L

Millbrook Head Chef recommends trying this wine with fresh Australian seafood and said, “charred octopus, chorizo, and pickled vegetables” would be a winning dish with this Tempranillo.