Grapes: Tempranillo

Chad and his wife, Karen, are my next door neighbors. We’ve exchanged gifts with them for years and have always suspected that they’re re-gifters. We got confirmation of that when they re-gifted to us a gift we got for them a year ago. We’ve also attended dinner parties and backyard barbecues with them and have learned they don’t drink wine. I’m a gambling man by nature but I also like to hedge my bets. This year, I’m gifting Chad and Karen a couple of bottles of this 2013 Viña Tuelda crianza with the idea I’ll be reunited with it at the next dinner party, back yard barbecue, or a Christmas gift exchange with them next year. I fell in love with this wine because it was an exceptional representation of Tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero in northern Spain’s Castilla y León region, just a 2-hour drive from Madrid. Ribera’s main grape variety, Tempranillo, is perfectly suited to the extreme climate of the region, where it must survive scorching summers and frigid winters. Low yields resulting from conscientious tending to old vines give Ribera wines a distinctive depth and complexity not found in other Tempranillos. I know, I know. Blah blah blah. Just try it, you’ll see!