Tempranillo a California fringe variety

frank — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 16:39:21 +0000

Most locals close to me, when they think of Tempranillo, (if they even think of it), they probably think of the Lodi AVA as you can definitely find this variety there in many great wineries. Over 100 acres of Tempranillo grows in the Lodi AVA, and the grape itself doesn’t even register 1,000 acres across the entire state. There is something special about the Tempranillo club of winemakers in this part of Northern California, and it is worth a deeper look.

Tempranillo is often called Spain’s noble grape, and I certainly agree with that, I have tasted enough Spanish Tempranillo to know this can be $100 wine that is actually worth $100. But still you don’t need to spend that kind of money, you can get close to a case for ~$300 because Tempranillo is simply not a big money variety in the state of California. Lodi winemakers are much more humble with their wine prices. If you are travelling the center of California you should look carefully at the Lodi region both for better prices, a deep bench of wineries, many varieties, and a perfect gateway into the niche that is Tempranillo or even Spanish varieties in general. That’s not to say great Tempranillo isn’t also located in Amador County. Most certainly it is, as the two counties, San Joaquin and Amador (barely) border each other so Sacramento, and Calaveras can be thrown in, as a “grand” region that has Tempranillo to discover.

One winery that has significant love towards both Portuguese and Spanish varieties is St Amant. This winery is worth a visit as they have scored a plethora of 90+ scores from Wine Enthusiast over the years and across the collection. With their Tempranillo you’ll be drinking Amador County (technically Foothill grapes) in the process. Their Spencer vineyard is their largest vineyard and that is located just on the western edge of Amador County. Another winery out of Lodi that sponsors a Tempranillo tour in November, is Bokisch Winery, and they helped sponsor the Lodi Spanish wine tour, that hit 8 wineries just for their Tempranillo. If you are looking for a list to do your own tour use the page I just provided.

Within Amador County I have to mention a relative newcomer winery that has lots of potential. Casino Mine Ranch has a good amount of (Tempranillo) grapes planted in Amador more along Shenandoah Road, which is the heart of Amador County wine country. I can’t say Tempranillo is their flagship grape, this winery takes a lot of pride in diversity, but the Marcel flagship blend uses Tempranillo to its perfection. This wine is both very bold and highly complex in its characteristics so you get what most people are looking for in this wine. Marcel is a bold wine, and a very complex wine. I see that Casino Mine Ranch also doesn’t release the Marcel till its ready, a few years on, and even then you can tell it needs some more time (at least 2 more years) to develop into something tremendous and perhaps a bit softer.

Tempranillo varietals in the Foothills (Amador/Lodi) regions is often big, high in tannins and simply “strong, bold wine”. If you prefer a more medium bodied wine I advise that you be patient and look around more, to find that balance that this variety can provide. It is both exceptional and truly noble in a way only a many generation Spanish wine-making family can truly understand. To take a closer look with great graphics about Tempranillo, step into the world of Wine Folly and their comprehensive, yet easy to consume guide on Tempranillo. My takeaway is that this grape and wine provide medium body and color, and do best when the wine is crafted in the middle of that elegant to bold scale, where the fruit can really show its many faces in the glass.

So glad that Tempranillo has begun to shine out from under the excellent and dominant Old Vine Zinfandel shadow of the southern parts of my (favorite Foothills) region.

You’ll need to figure out what kind of (Tempranillo) you really like.

Cheers!

The post Tempranillo a California fringe variety appeared first on Frank's El Dorado wine blog.

Orange wine from green Slovenia

frank — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:48:13 +0000

In 2025, I was lucky enough to make it to the Balkans. My first trip there and I went with my friends at Holly’s Hill here in El Dorado County so it was a curated wine tour. My wife and I added on Vienna and (Ljubljana) Slovenia to our trip and so I was able to look into wines alone before the winery group segment. My biggest impression was how good the orange (or amber) wine was in Slovenia (specifically). I noticed after the full trip that Slovenia seems to take orange wine a little more seriously and with greater offerings after spending 2 weeks in neighboring Croatia. Croatia does orange wine as well, but Slovenia does it more broadly. In fact aside from Italy and France which both have orange wines, both Slovenia and Georgia seem to be hot spots for the amber or orange variety of vinification. Both these countries are worth looking into.

Simply put, orange wine is white wine grapes that have seen a good amount of skin contact making the wine amber or orange in color. The seeds of the grape also import color to the wine. These wines like all wines of a specific color can run the gamut from highly structured and even heavy with higher alcohol (~14%) and noticeable tannins, to lighter and sweeter. I always prefer the middle of the spectrum with the highest aromatics and complexity, that’s just me. Can orange wine from Slovenia offer highly complex and aromatic wines? Most definitely.

We had a wonderful experience with orange wine in Slovenia, and a bit in Zagreb Croatia as well. In fact I have a shipment of more Slovenian orange wine heading to my house now! What I notice in the Krasno and with other orange wines from Europe is that the lemon note is not the dominant or even common flavor. It tends to be more apricot, stone fruits and even some tropical notes over the classic citrus that many crisp white wines impart.

Is it easy to find European orange wine in America? Probably not, it is for the oenophile for sure, and finding it in the United States is a bit difficult. Below are some resources. You either need to go to a specialty online retailer like Flat Iron or Astor or have a wine shop in your area that knows the right importers that can get you these wines. If you are curious you should spend the time, and try these wines.

I am going to give you a recommendation here based on some tasting from a region of Slovenia that made the CNN list for most underrated wine regions, and that is Goriška Brda. This little region in the northwest corner of Slovenia is very close to Italy (which takes orange wine seriously as well). There are many hilly terraces here and they produce some of the best wines of Slovenia, including orange wines. This Krasno wine is one example. Krasno is a little hilltop village and wine area of Brda.

Give this area a look or something else from Slovenia (or Italy or Georgia) and see if you like this kind of wine. Slovenian wine is both mature and of excellent quality and they love all colors of wine in Slovenia but something very special is their orange variants.

If you want to get a little deeper on orange wine offerings and how they might taste and where to look you can go to Wine Folly’s orange wine page for a broader and deeper view. You will see Slovenia is represented right after Italy, and this topic is a deep one, and the regions from Italy, France, Slovenia, Croatia, and Georgia are some of the best regions to find this amber treasure. And in the United States the east coast and New York State specifically seems to have some orange wine culture developed. It takes a demand spectrum, and I would say California is not it. But other places are alive with orange wine.

Cheers!

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Tempranillo a California fringe variety

Orange wine from green Slovenia