TEMPRANILLO

XAVIER AYALA

@DiariSommelier

@diarisommelier.cat

Called Tempranillo in La Rioja, this grape variety goes by the name of Cencibel in La Mancha, Ull de Llebre in Catalonia, Tinta de Toro in Toro, Tinto Fino or Tinta Fina in Ribera del Duero, and even Tinta Roriz or Aragonés in Portugal. Spread across the entire Iberian peninsula, the varietal is known generically as Tempranillo (derived from temprano in Spanish, meaning "early") because of its capacity to ripen earlier than other red grapes.

It is said that the Romans introduced grapevine cultivation to the peninsula in 210 BC. Wine was drunk in many parts of the world because it could be easily preserved and last over the long journeys at sea. Yet, like much of the Old World, the area was hit by phylloxera in the 1800s.

Although isolated pockets of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines still exist, it was American rootstock that enabled