Black Barn Tempranillo 2009

Tempranillo it is very new to New Zealand, though it is showing some promise mainly in Hawkes Bay where weather conditions and soils seem to be very well suited to the grape variety. We have tried a number of them and without doubt this is the very best that we found, it is unmistakeably varietal in flavour and profile, leather, tobacco even dry saffron, everything that you would expect from a Rioja, in fact we tried it against some classical Rioja and it was surprising how well it compared. Black Barn is a leading Hawkes Bay producer and it is refreshing that they are prepared to push the boundaries and experiment with something out of the ordinary, they definitely hit the nail on the head with this one, lovely caressing ripe fruit, concentration, dry spice and vibrancy, starting to drink now but will also cellar for the next 3-4 years.