CH III / D.O RIBERA DEL DUERO HISTORY

Tempranillo

finesse
and elegance

The tempranillo grape variety, also known as Tinta del País and Tinto fino, is the main wine in wines from the Ribera del Duero and one of the great wines of the Spanish winemaking heritage.

The first known reference to the tempranillo grape dates from the Tratado de Agricultura General of Alonso de Herrera (1513) where it is described under the name Aragonés in the following way: ‘Tight grape. It has large tightly packed clusters and thick-skinned grapes. They are vines requiring a lot of work. They make a very dark wine which does not last long and which is much improved by mixing with other white grapes’.

Tempranillo Finesse and elegance

According to recent studies of the DNA conducted by the Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino (ICVV) and the Instituto Madrileño de Investigación de Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA), its origins have been established as being a cross between the white albillo mayor (turruntés) variety, originally from Castilla-León and described by Alonso de Herrera in the year 1513, and the red wine Benedictine variety from Aragón, described by Nicolás García de los Salmones in the year 1914 and which is now virtually extinct.

In 1885, E. Abela, in El libro del viticultor, describes the tempranillo from Peralta or Rioja in the following way: ‘Hard canes, not very long; leaves with four to six lobes, with large serrations, very black grapes, tasty and early ripening’. Abela states that the grape is cultivated in Navarra and Rioja, in Zaragoza with the name Cencibera; Tinto Aragonés in Castilla and Coregón in Tarragona.

In 1905 Manso de Zúñiga places the cultivation of tempranillo in Rioja, Navarra, Burgos and Soria. He suggests its origin may be Riojan and describes the vine thus: ‘Arched canes, extended, not upright, large leaves; palm shaped with five lobes, deep sinuses and a closed petiolar sinus, dark green upper side and whitish down on the underside. Very large clusters with clearly defined shoulders or wings, two or three with an elongated cylindrical cone shape. Large, round berries, deep. Dark black colour, rather thick skin, colourless, even pulp’.

Until 1954 no synonym appears for Rioja tempranillo with tinto fino from Madrid and cencibel from Valdepeñas. It does so thanks to Juan Marcilla Arrázola who marks the big differences between the wines of La Mancha and those from Rioja and mentions the importance of factors such as the soil, climate, growing practices and the ways in which the wines are made for determining their characteristics.

José Peñín in his work Cepas del Mundo, rates tempranillo as a variety which grows well in chalky-clay soils, provides wines with a pleasant reminder of blackberry, with a fresh, dry sensation on the palate, compared to the majority of Spanish grapes which provide wines with a slight sweetness and quality. It has the virtue of cold climate or Atlantic stocks which can take cask-ageing very well; good tannin structure with persistent colour and acidity during ageing.

José Peñín in his work Cepas del Mundo, rates tempranillo as a variety which grows well in chalky-clay soils, provides wines with a pleasant reminder of blackberry, with a fresh, dry sensation on the palate, compared to the majority of Spanish grapes which provide wines with a slight sweetness and quality. It has the virtue of cold climate or Atlantic stocks which can take cask-ageing very well; good tannin structure with persistent colour and acidity during ageing.

DO RIBERA DEL DUERO

Morphology

Tip of young shoot:

Shoot with an open tip, white, cotton-like and slightly reddish.

Young leaf.

Large leaf with five lobes and a prolonged central lobe; U-shaped petiolar sinus with edges which tend to close and slightly overlap, upper lateral sinuses with overlapping sinuses, deep lower sinuses; tomentose, undulated edge, medium-to-large serrations with straight sides.

Cluster.

Green, with very low or no density of prostrate hairs.

Berry.

Round, average-size berry.

Tempranillo, Rippa Dorii

Agricultural

Profile

Sensitive to diseases and adversities.

Sensible a la botrytis, al mildiu y al oídio. Poco sensible a las heladas primaverales, sensible al corrimiento. Sensible al viento cálido.

Budbreak period.

Average-early.

Ripening period.

Average-early.

Yield.

Average.

Training and pruning.

Adapts to various forms of training and pruning, whether in low bushes with short basal buds or on trellis wires with long Guyot pruning.

Aptitudes of growing.

Upright vine with good vigour. Adapts well to all kinds of soils and climates, preferring soils with good orientation and dry climates. In addition, it adapts well to tropical growing conditions, where it produces good, constant yields (Thailand, Venezuela northeast Brazil). It can sometimes suffer scorching of the leaves and blocked ripening due to intense heat exposure, with negative effects on the quality of the musts.

Oenological

Potential

Type of wine

It produces wines with a stable, intense colour, suited to long cask-ageing, high alcoholic strength, medium or slightly low acidity, well-balanced with the typical aroma of tobacco leaves and spices. Often used in blends with other red wine grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cariñena, Merlot or Monastrell.