Napa CAB flavors on a BUDGET??? Try TEMPRANILLO!!!

Tempranillo is the most planted red wine grape in Spain and produces some of the greatest red wines in the country. I think some examples resemble Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.
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🥂 Wines featured in this episode:
Bodegas Faustino Faustino I Gran Reserva 2011 click.linksyne...
Rioja Vega Gran Reserva 2017
Alma de Vino Ribera del Duero 2014
Matsu El Viejo 2020
Coral Duero Las Parvas 2017
Bardos Suprema Ribera del Duero 2020
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[@welshtoro3256]

Great review Matt. Needless to say I drink a lot of Tempranillo. There's no other grape that's so identifiably Spanish. These days we're well aware of lot's of other wonderful varieties that flourish in Spain but Tempranillo is synonymous with Rioja; the mother and father of Spanish red wine and it's reputation both at home and abroad for so many years. Ribera del Duero followed suit and became more trendy for wine folk for quite some time. Rioja's popularity with the masses made Ribera the obvious choice for those that didn't want to be tainted with 'Spanish plonk.' Ah yes, wine and the class system. Toro was hardly known by anyone when I first started drinking it and it had very little reputation in Spain as well. That's all changed now and it's certainly nudged its way into the window. I'm very fortunate to have family and property in Bilbao and Valladolid which means I am completely familiar with the regions of Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Toro. When I want to play it safe with a single glass of wine in Spain I'll pick Ribera. It's a safe median standard which is not to say it's better than Rioja or Toro but it carries less blind risk. I really enjoyed the mix of wine in this review. A couple of them require a bit of hunting because international distribution is scarce shall we say. First shout out is to Faustino 1 and Rioja Vega which are both Gran Reservas and great value. Some folk poo poo Faustino because they are a big producer but I recently had the Faustino 1 and it was delicious. Both of these wines cost less than £30 in the U.K. The big guns in the Rioja world have really raised their game in the past twenty years. It's well worth checking out their entry level wines as they are usually great value. Matsu are and have been a great producer that have managed to keep their prices in good shape. A lot of Toro producers have jumped in price in the last few years. My last bottle of Viejo cost me £25 a couple of months ago. Toro make great big and bold wines if you like that style and I do. As for Ribera del Duero, you can take a blind chance and find good wine. Not long ago I chose the house wine in a restaurant in Andalusia to go with a meal. It turned out to be a $10 euro bottle of Ribera which was really nice and probably way better than the cheapest on the wine list. Interestingly, all of these wine regions have a certain profile. They might all use Tempranillo but use different cask types and have very regional styles. Spanish wine has been transformed in the past 25 years into world class and the best value on the planet. Some folk are still snooty about it but that means more for us. I think Spain is also at the forefront of the biodynamic movement and they are producing fantastic natural wines which are getting better and better and flying under the radar at great value.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I really admire and appreciate all the passion you show for Spanish wines!

[@welshtoro3256]

@@drmatthewhorkey Thanks Matt. I do drink plenty of wine from other parts of the world but Spain is my home base for wine. I'm in Spain more than any other country apart from Britain and I'm married to a Spaniard so I've seen both the country and its wines transform before my eyes within my own lifetime ever since I first visited Catalonia in 1982. It's taken many people in the wine world to realise what I have known for years; which is when Spain was released from such a suffocating and repressive regime for so long it was absolutely pregnant with creativity. That's apparent in its artistic dimension and it's culinary enthusiasm. There was plenty of good wine in Spain in the 1980's but it was consumed by local enthusiasts. Most Spanish wine for export was decent value bulk stuff which explains why traditionalists who love French and Italian wine could never imagine it as an equal. A good 'Rioja' was a term used by millions of regular Brits just tuning in to wine who could buy a juicy full flavoured wine for under £10. French and Italian wine at that price point was very ordinary. It was the internet explosion and the growth of middle class drinkers of wine, which coincided at the same time, that really saw the rise of Spanish wine. Passionate consumers of quality wine could have hitherto secret gems opened up to them and Spain was the greatest secret of all. Bottles of $10 or $15 euro wine from Spain would blow away any wine from anywhere else. 93 Parker points for wines below $20 euros was impossible apart from Spain. Since then the massive creativity of new producers plus the positive reaction from the old guard has been amazing. Even the marketing and brilliant youthful labels have transformed the wine world for the better in my opinion. We need new and young people to come to wine and those old stuffy labels just alienate far too many people. Obviously Spain isn't the be all and end all wine but in 2024 I truly believe it belongs at the top table for excellence and great value. I also believe that the creativity I mentioned is why it is the best country anywhere to be leading the biodynamic wine revolution happening now. Natural wine is on the march and they are making great wine which is getting better and better. Spain is such a great place for that to happen and it is happening. Folk like you and me love individual profiles and the natural wine world is providing that space at excellent value. WT

[@fitnesswitheasye5722]

Love Spanish wines, just had a Vina Ardanza 2015 with my family last night. Silky smooth tannins with a long finish 👌🏽

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It’s such a GOOOODDDD wine!

[@pt79dk]

@@fitnesswitheasye5722 I tasted 15’ too so I totally agree and I have never had it better. As good as it gets for the money! I have several of the 16’ which I look forward to

[@pt79dk]

@@fitnesswitheasye5722 Try Izadi El Regalo around same price point

[@danielmendez9010]

Ardanza is ❤❤❤

[@xmanboby]

love that wine, just bought 2 bottles

[@joe-zp7ge]

as a wine geek i truly believe spain and parts of italy are true bargains. a decent cab is 80 bucks upward these days. thanks for these picks

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yesssss! And 🙏🙏

[@Jonathans_Watches_Fragrances]

Enjoyed the video. I absolutely love that Matsu wine. Amazing value for the price point! 👌🍷🇪🇸

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It is rich and delicious

[@diegogodinhorocha9448]

Nice video on wines that are very available. I used to drink a lot of Tempranillo, but lately I benched it for Garnacha. When I buy it, I buy unoaked - or slightly oaked - wines from Rioja or Ribera that deliver a lot on crazy low prices. I have almost bought Zuccardi's Tempranillo (and should have bought it - I ended up with a ho-hum Chilean cab), and I am interested in Bouza's Tempranillo, coming from Uruguay. I had a cheap one from Portugal some time ago, and it was not comparable to the cheap ones from Spain, though. When I meet someone who wants to get hooked up in wine, I always recommend something from Rioja. It's really easy to like.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

You are right, Rioja is easy to like. I didn’t know Bouza did a Tempranillo!

[@numanuma20]

My gateway wine was La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza I think 2012. Tempranillo has a special place for me.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

What a great wine!

[@TheDesertWineGuy]

Started my journey of Tempranillo with Campo Viejo and never looked back. I still have a bottle of the 2010 Reserva in my cellar.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Affordable and readily available!

[@aprilcullom3414]

W😍W, loved seeing my Alma give you such a nice surprise!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Gorgeous wine!

[@VervillePierre]

Imperial Gran Reserva is my treat ! Also love Contino Gran Reserva.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

💪🏼👍🏼🍷

[@JuicySommelier]

Arizona food and wine trip. I tried a new wine that was Tempranillo Garnacha and Graciano 40/40/20. They did a petnat of it too. Woooowww!!!

[@joe-zp7ge]

would love to try that! do you remember the name of that wine. love garnacha. never seen it combined with tempranillo

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ohhhh sounds fun!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Garnacha is blended often in small amounts in Rioja

[@JuicySommelier]

@@joe-zp7ge Unfortunately they only sell it in their vip room called the Ventura room at Merkin Vineyards Trattoria. It’s the Hilltop Reserve. If you got the cabbage, $300 a seat with a dinner and tasting as well as the option to buy what you drank.

[@JuicySommelier]

@@drmatthewhorkey Caduceus has two Tempranillos, $60 and $125. It would be great to get your opinion. I love both of them!

[@Blair338RUM]

Very informative vid, thanks Matt. Quite a bit of Tempranillo being planted here in Australia now.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’ve had some brilliant ones, esp from Ministry of Clouds

[@Blair338RUM]

👍 Excellent one.

[@dr7246]

Nice assortment! For my taste, in general, for bigger Iberian reds, touriga nacional and touriga franca based wines can give more interesting expressions. But not always. And the best can be harder to find

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That is often the case with wine, harder to find sometimes the more excitement!

[@kennethbowers5840]

Love Rioja, one of the best values in what I consider fine wine category. La Rioja Alta, Muga, Lopez de Heredia, and marques de murrieta are my favorites. I think Spain overall as a country offers some of the best value out there for wines that you can find that are available in a lot of places.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Those are all some of my great wine loves too!

[@certisko1]

Vina Cubillo from Lopez de Heredia - 15 euros 👍 Really nice classic Rioja.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Amazing wine!

[@JonasK-vk3nu]

Aldi in Germany has the Faustino Crianza here for 5$ 😎 the Gran Reserva is like 17€

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes you have GREAT prices in 🇩🇪

[@welshtoro3256]

Go for the Faustino Gran Reserva if its that price. A very nice wine which I would say is very underrated.

[@JonasK-vk3nu]

@@welshtoro3256 yeah most people gift this wine at christmas. They produce a lot of Onpacks with Glasses

[@vantivallarta4161]

Hi Matt, Another excellent video, as usual! My absolute favorite producer from Spain is La Rioja Alta. I have had Rioja Vega Gran Reserva before but it did not come close to Viña Ardanza Reserva. Also just recently I had a chance to try Viña Albina Reserva 2018 from Bodegas Riojanas (92 points from James Suckling) for $10 USD on a sale. For that price I could drink that for the rest of my life. (LOL). I wonder if you or anyone from your community has ever had Viña Albina...

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That is a fine wine for sure!!! I’ve had it

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That is a fantastic wine! I’ve had it before

[@solomonmengeu1003]

Great video and tasting, with these three regions the terroir and winemaker/producer have a lot more to do with how the wines taste vs. the wine just being made primarily from Tempranillo. I prefer Rioja to the other two and Faustino is arguably the most readily available of Gran Reserva Riojas internationally. I am curious to see how the zoning of individual villages and vineyards in Rioja will play out in the years to come; hopefully it will help the region become more diverse and give drinkers more options. Cheers!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I might beg to differ a little bit and think that all the zoning for Rioja is not a good idea, Wine is already confusing enough for consumers

[@Madsakre]

You should give Challao from Rioja a try. They make an excellent Cuvée which comes in at 12,5%. It's called Angelita de Challao.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

😮😮😮👍🏼💪🏼

[@laurencestewart3828]

I don't think tempranillo gets enough love in California as cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay suck up most of the air. From time to time I do come across some producers and really enjoy it.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

And good QPR!

[@welshtoro3256]

Oh my God, what is it about the U.S.A and Cabernet and Chardonnay? Let's extend that to French worship in general. I just don't get it.

[@eliasmarius]

I would love to see this concept with Sangiovese: 1. Brunello/Rosso di Montalcino 2. Chianti Classico 3. Vino nobile di Montepulciano 4. Morellino di Scansano 5. Super Tuscan And then maybe a curveball with a sangiovese from the new world

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Already on the channel…

[@eliasmarius]

@ really?? I couldn’t find it, what is the name of the video? Thanks 🙏

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Search Sangiovese Showdown

[@ivansanchez6202]

Great Video Love Tempranillo, good selection as you say some tempranillo could be a little like cab, but the flavor go from red to blue (for example rioja tend to be more red like cherry and the Ribera be more like plum, and some wine taste like vainilla cream (i prefer plum over the other 2). Recomendations are too many, for say some, from Rioja i like Ukan their 2021 very very good but need a little more time in the bottle, and from Ribera Ausas Interpretacion, Tomas postigo (But only if you can find 2019 or before if you can buy 2016 buy!!!!), Caballero Zifar (their 2019 really really good). And from Toro i will say Numanthia, Platon (Divina proporcion they make good wine i like even their entry level called madre mia), Titan del Bendito (or Las Sabias).

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Nice recommendations!

[@pt79dk]

@@ivansanchez6202 interesting, I have Bendito and Ausas in the celler so yet to taste and Postigo on my to-buy-and-drink list. Will look for Ukan. You must try the ones I recommended (in order) in my initial post! Cheers🍷

[@zoltannemeti9192]

For some reason I did not find tempranillo interesting in the past. Not even the big guns. But that changed in the last few years, I enjoy them a lot more. Had a cheap one from Lidl recently which I think was whole bunch fermented and unoaked (or aged in neutral barrels); it was so lovely, really juicy and refreshing, I never though tempranillo can be made this way.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I second your opinion! I like the subtle ones with age

[@pt79dk]

@@zoltannemeti9192 That fits the description of Artuke which retails for less than 9€ and is one of the best wines I have had at that price

[@zoltannemeti9192]

@@pt79dk thanks for the hint, then I will try to get a bottle of Artuke

[@ThomasLuggin]

Psi is very good.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Big wine for sure!

[@liamblake937]

I love Lopez! Not big on the more modern wines in their youth

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Me too!

[@pt79dk]

904 and Roda 1 res. are the benchmark for me in Rioja. In Ribera the list is long but Valduero 6anos if one and then Pago de carraovejas res., Carmelo Rodero res., Arzuaga res.esp., Resalte expresion, Nabal res., Lopez Cristobal bagús and least but not last Aguila res. which is Burgundy like In terms of acidity and tanins.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

904 is good!! Although I slightly prefer the 890

[@pt79dk]

@ Well the 890 05’ is in the celler so not yet tasted. However its their top so should be better but I will find out eventually and if it is worth it compared to 904

[@ivansanchez6202]

@@pt79dk Good recommendations i'll recommend you dominio de calogia (The normal one it's excepcional and their cuvee S outstanding) Cheers!!!🍷

[@pt79dk]

@@ivansanchez6202 thx, I also have that one in the celler and looking very much forward

[@ivansanchez6202]

​@@pt79dk Please tell me your opinions when you taste it!! i would love to know an if you want some other recommendations for some spain regions i will try my best ;).

[@IA_Z_V]

Although there are great wines with labels of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reseva, the truth is that right now in Spain and specifically in those areas, the best wines do not follow that labeling. This is because the best producers want flexibility in where to age their wine (larger barrels, foudres, concrete...) and how much time they need for it while the other classification forces them to use 225 litre barrels and for a certain time. They also do this to avoid having anything to do with €5 Reservas in supermarkets. Unfortunately, in Spain there are large wine factories making cheap, low-quality wine (Faustino is one of them sorry) and good producers try to distance themselves from that as much as they can. As a wine lover, you should give voice to other types of producers and not to those large wine factories that export wine of dubious origin and dubious quality (Not to mention the pittance they pay grape growers). There are great Tempranillos that are not camouflaged with so many oak, since unfortunately, in many Reserva and Gran Reserva you are not tasting the grape but the barrel.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

So true that in Europe there are great wines made outside appellation laws. Unfortunately they are small production often and not well distributed

[@pt79dk]

@@IA_Z_V yeah they label it “cosecha” so the system still has some purpose in the lack of something better or?

[@IA_Z_V]

@@pt79dk I'm just saying that it's a shame that a wine promotion account continues to recommend a classification or style that is already outdated. Spanish and European wine lovers have not consumed this style for a long time, or if they do, it is from very specific wineries that prioritize quality over quantity and at a certain price. The new Rioja or the new Ribera del Duero are not a one-year thing, we've been doing it for several years now, since the 2000s in fact. The problem may be that we export what is no longer consumed here. Anyway, my comment was constructive, so that Mathew can try them and see the things that have been done for a while now :)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I try these types of wine all the time… Unfortunately they are not so widely distributed and for producers that are not imported it is VERY hard for them to send samples

[@ROGER-yo9cy]

What about Albariños?

[@ROGER-yo9cy]

Best Spanish white grape

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Me likey…

[@joseluistorres9488]

Try Malleolus from Emilio Moro… less than 40 euros and will blow you away… but many many Riberas around 30 to 60 euros are much much better than 80/90 euros Italian and French…

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It’s solid RdD indeed!

[@marksadventures1606]

It is possible to find decent Spanish wine for under 5 Euros (In Spain)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes it is!!!

[@Verdadverdadera737]

ya no sabes ni que sacar mano

[@drmatthewhorkey]

???