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S.C. Pannell

2020

Tempranillo Touriga

McLaren Vale - Australia
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

Tempranillo and Touriga Naçional are indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula and are the most famous red grape varieties of Spain and Portugal respectively. Tempranillo is also grown in Portugal where it is known as Tinta Roriz, and traditionally blended with Touriga Naçional and other indigenous varieties. Whilst Tempranillo is now well known, Touriga Naçional may be new to many wine drinkers and in need of further introduction. It’s a lusty red variety that produces medium-bodied yet powerful wines with pungent fruit characteristics of fruit-mince or plum pudding. It blends well with the red fruit, earth and cocoa of Tempranillo and may just be the variety and wine for our times. The climatic suitability to the South Australian wine growing region is unquestionable in both of these varieties, resulting in increased sustainability and wines with great natural balance, complexity and flavor.

The grapes were hand-harvested, crushed, and vinified separately in small open top fermenters. Post-primary fermentation the grapes are pressed directly to 500-liter French puncheons, 20% new and 80% more than ten years old. After seven months in wood the wine is racked to tank and carefully blended where it goes back to tank for an additional two months to harmonize. The wine is bottled with a gentle cross-flow filtration and just 57 ppm sulfur.

Stats

  • Grapes: 54% Tempranillo (Tina Ruíz) - 46% Touriga Naçional
  • Vineyard: Katandra (Tempranillo) - Koomilya (Touriga Naçional)
  • Vine Age: 20-years-old (Tempranillo) - 8-years-old (Touriga Naçional)
  • Soil Type: Alluvial fan clay, sand and gravel (Tempranillo) - Dark grey very thinly laminated slaty siltstone flecked with ironstone (Touriga Naçional)
  • Viticulture: Sustainable
  • Fermentation: Inoculated – stainless steel (100% destemmed)
  • Skin Contact: 10 days
  • Aging: 12 months in old French oak puncheons
  • Alcohol: 14%
  • pH: 3.73
  • Total Acidity: 5.58 g/L
  • Total SO2: 57 ppm
  • Total Production: 1,000 cases

Tasting Note

Black fruits, cherry, fruit bread & red licorice, overlaid with Touriga Nacional’s pungent fruit, jasmine scented floral and nutmeg/cinnamon spices. The intense and tightly intertwined flavurs of this rich and flavorsome wine are primarily of fresh blackberries and panforte, with a complex spice profile including clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. Layered with granular tannins leading to a balanced finish.

Press & Reviews

James Suckling

94

"The blackberry and cinnamon roll aromas are so enticing. It’s full-bodied with round and creamy tannins that are polished and refined. Poised and tight with beautiful form and tension for this esoteric blend. Drink now. Screw cap."

- James Suckling

Decanter

93

"Finding an easy, natural balance between these two robust grape varieties (50% each), winemaker Steve Pannell encourages a lively dance of complex flavours and textures. Touriga’s pungent fruit characteristics blend well with Tempranillo’s red earth bite. The result is an open-shirted boldness and swagger in a generous blast of rich flavours – plum, blackberry, sarsaparilla, dark chocolate, liquorice, cloves – before a smart bolero jacket of black tea tannins pulls the middle palate taut. Fresh, feisty and fabulous."

- David Sly

VinePair

90

"Stephen Pannell comes from a family of, 'wine-mad doctors pioneering grape-growing in the region' in Margaret River, Australia. With this background and globe-trotting winemaking experience, he landed back in Australia, and now works with unconventional grapes in the McLaren Vale region. This Tempranillo (Spanish grape) and Touriga Nacional (Portuguese grape) blend is smoky, like peat, with some added complexity from oak aging. Soft on the palate with great acidity, this wine has nice, blousy fruit and a slight grip on the finish."

- Keith Beavers
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Producer


S.C. Pannell

Region


McLaren Vale

Country


Australia

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