2015 Tempranillo - Martian Ranch Vineyard
Indigenous to Spain, the Tempranillo grape is ruby red in color and features predominant flavors of dark cherries, spice, tobacco and berries. This wine ages extremely well.
Tempranillo wines pair well with a fairly broad range of cheese types, and not surprisingly, with many of the Iberian types. Sheep milk cheeses seem to be the best types to complement the tobacco and spice flavors of this varietal. Cheeses with a higher salt content generally pair well as do many wash rind cow’s milk cheese.
Tasting Notes
Deep garnet in color with appealing aromas of flowers, leather, lychee, raspberry, cranberries and vanilla. Flavors of spiced black cherry, cola, walnut and tobacco leaf with soft tannins and a long finish.
Tempranillo ages very well and it gets better every year!
Source: 100% Martian Ranch Vineyard. All grapes sourced from MRV are farmed under Biodynamic principles.
Region: Santa Barbara County, CA (Los Alamos district)
Harvest: September 1, 2015
Fermentation: De-stemmed 80% / Whole-cluster 20% Long cold soak, T73 yeast and pressed when dry; 2 Yrs in barrels
Composition: 100% Tempranillo (90% Clone 3, 10% Clone 770)
Cooperage: 33% new American Oak, balance is 2nd use French oak barrels. Aged 2-Yrs in BBL
Juice Stats: Brix 23.2; pH 4.09; TA 0.433
Alcohol: 14.6 %
Production: 99 cases
Suggested Food Pairing: Flatbreads, mushroom risotto, steaks, hamburgers, sheep milk cheeses (Manchego)
2015 TEMPRANILLO - Martian Ranch Vineyard
Tempranillo translates to "little early one". Old Spanish vineard owners nicknamed it after noticing that this grape tends to ripen before other Spanish varietals in their fields. It is also known as Tinto Fino, Ojo de Liebre, Tinto de Toro, Tinto Madrid, and Cencibel. In Portugal, Tempranillo is often called Tinta Roriz and Aragonez.