£8–£9, Tesco, Co-op,
This Australian Tempranillo has to be one of the best value reds around. Check: best value wines of any hue and style. The 2014 was my Wine of the Week in September 2017. Five years on, the current vintage, the 2020, more than deserves the Wine of the Week slot. And can you believe it, you can still buy it at the same price?
I’ve got another question: why aren’t more Australians growing Tempranillo? Plantings are rising, but they were still only 0.5% of the total and 0.5% of the red wine crush last year. Spain's favourite grape variety seems to love it in regions like Barossa, McLaren Vale, Wrattonbully, Riverina and the Riverland.
Back to the wine: it’s from the Hill-Smith family stable (think Yalumba), it’s fermented with yeasts indigenous to the vineyards and it’s unoaked to let the fruit shine. And it does shine – all sappy, floral, blueberry and bramble jelly playing out against dried herbs, a sliver of dark chocolate, a hint of sweet leather, and supple tannins.
Show it some barbecued vegetables, roast root veg, chickpea dishes, chorizo, slow-roast pork belly, pulled pork or lamb cutlets and it'll be happy and so will you. 14%. Empty bottle weight: 547g
Running with Bulls Tempranillo 2020, South Australia, Australia