Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
The Spanish varietal spinoff project from Qupe. Lively, tangy acid structure; crisp, pure and showing bright style and fresh fruit. Biodynamic.
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Wine Enthusiast
Louisa Lindquist produces this almost Pinot Noir-like Tempranillo from her cool climate site in the southern Edna Valley. It leads with red cherry and rust scents and shows more red cherry, iron and baking spice flavors on the palate, leaving a delicate and refreshing impression laced with rocky minerality.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
With its invitation to Old World flavors, the classic 2014 Verdad Tempranillo, from the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard, does an excellent job in defining the characteristics of this grape variety. This wine exhibits black fruit, savory earth, and attractive rusticity. (Tasted: August 22, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
Notoriously food-friendly, long-lasting and Spain’s most widely planted grape, Tempranillo is the star variety of red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. The Rioja terms Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva indicate both barrel and bottle time before release. Traditionally blended in Rioja with Garnacha, plus a bit of Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano, the Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero typically stands alone. Somm Secret—Tempranillo claims many different names depending on location. In Penedès, it is called Ull de Llebre and in Valdepeñas, goes by Cencibel. Known as Tinta Roriz in Portugal, Tempranillo plays an important role in Port wine.
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.