How’s this for coincidence.  Very recently we went to a dinner with a group of wine appreciative friends and one of the group brought up the variety Tempranillo.  He gave us three different versions of the word in the space of one sentence.  He did his best but even others struggled with their pronunciation of it as well.  Luckily, there was also a winemaker at the table and he let us know that it was pronounced ‘tempra-nee-oh’.  I was corrected a few years ago while holidaying in Spain by a local fellow and I’ve never had a problem saying the word since.  I actually think it’s a word that just rolls off the tongue with ease and this wine seems to roll over the tongue with just as much ease.

It’s a lovely dark colour with irresistible aromas of dark fruits, a little bit of a floral note, savoury and quite intense too.  The palate offers up plenty of everything.  Flavour is certainly up there in the pleasure scale when tasting it.  Those dark fruits reappear, plums play a part, in comes some chocolate characters, there’s the expected savouriness and it has pretty good length, even if the tannins seem a bit dry.  As I mentioned earlier, this has got everything including versatility.  It would be beautiful with beef, pair perfectly with pizza or easily share a chair with chorizo.  Try it with friends.  You’ll soon have an empty bottle, I bet.

Hastwell & Lightfoot Website (currently undergoing maintenance)

Region: McLaren Vale, SA     Price: $25     Source: Sample thanks to Hastwell & Lightfoot and Define Wine