Vale Tempranillo with style: Cascabel El Sendero Tempranillo 2011

Cascabel = best Spanish flavours in McLaren Vale. This El Sendero looks more like a 2011 McLaren Vale red than a Tempranillo, which is as much a vintage reflection as anything else.El Sendero means ‘the path’ and is a reference to where these grapes come from – the vineyard at the end of the Cascabel garden path. The grapes were picked early in ’11 with notably clean fruit, which Susana Fernandez of Cascabel attributes to the extensive canopy work done by Duncan pre-harvest.

Clean or not you can see the cool edge on the nose here, with mulch and black pepper fragrance. It’s a nose that has you expecting weediness which isn’t this Tempranillo at all – it’s clearly a higher acid, less fruit-sweet wine, but the bitter tannins are excellent, with nothing tasting unripe. In fact, you’d call this a bit of a triumph given that McLaren Vale Tempranillo is not known for decent tannins and particularly not in 2011 when balance was so hard to get right.

A winner, if not a massive wine, I’d happily knock off a bottle of this.

Drink: 2013-2018
Score: 17/20, 90/100
Would I buy it? A glass or two would be nice.