This Week's Wine Review
 

Trinity Hill 2009 Gimblett Gravels Tempranillo

With a decidedly cold, wet, winter’s weekend, I just felt like a nice red to go with a hearty winter meal but also something a bit different, so I decided to try the Trinity Hill 2009 Gimblett Gravels Tempranillo. It is part of the Gimblett Gravels range from Trinity Hill and still keeps to the traditional cork stoppers rather than a screw top, so if you take it somewhere, remember to also take a corkscrew.

As well as containing 86% Tempranillo, this wine also contains 9% of the relatively unfamiliar Touriga Nacional grapes plus 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Viognier.

If you are not familiar with Tempranillo, it is a red grape variety grown most commonly in Spain, where it is used as one of the components of Rioja. In Portugal, the same grape is known as Tinta Roriz, and many here might be fore familiar with it in one of its Portuguese uses: Port. Touriga Nacional is also a variety used in making Port and adding it to the blend of this wine adds complexity. The Cabernet Sauvignon will also add some complexity while the Viognier adds some floral aromatics, while softening the wine.

2009 was an excellent year for red varieties in the Hawkes Bay. A very hot, dry summer was followed by a mild autumn, allowing the fruit plenty of time to reach optimum ripeness. It was a year known for flavoursome fruit.

When the grapes reached ripeness, they were hand picked then destemmed at the winery without being crushed. Fermentation was carried out in stainless steel fermenters at warm temperatures. The cap was plunged and pumped over twice daily during the fermentation process. The must was then pressed as soon as the fermentation was finished. The wine was then settled for a few days before being racked to a mixture of new and used French Oak, American Oak and stainless Steel. The wine was bottled in 2010.

I found the 2009 Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Tempranillo to have aromas of ripe cherry, plum, spices and vanilla. On the palate, I found this wine to have distinct flavours of ripe black cherry, strawberry and plum with hints of liquorice, spices and savoury notes. It is a wine with soft tannins and a long lingering finish of cherry stone and dark chocolate.

For that Spanish theme, why not try this wine with tapas. Alternatively it is a wine that will accompany a range of red meat dishes.

© Stephen Clark (reviewed 20/5/2013)