Granite Ridge Tempranillo 2013 is a steal

Over the weekend we went away for the weekend, and I decided to bring along one of our mid-tier wines. I’ve discussed before how in our wine room we have our drinking wines, for now, our slightly more special wines, and then our really special wines out of sight. The wines in the mid-tier are there because we don’t want to crack them open on a weeknight. However, they are also not the wines we are meant to be aging. No, those are out of sight out of mind! The wines in the mid-tier are those that we’ve picked up at wineries over the years. They are something special with special memories attached. Which is why I grabbed out the Granite Ridge Tempranillo 2013 to take away with us.

Not that we really got this anywhere special. In fact, we were at the Ekka and got a little carried away doing a wine tasting there. We ended up buying a case of wines from Granite Ridge because we enjoyed them so much. It was also because we had visited the winery before, and we visited it again last year. We have a lot of their wines because they always offer something different and delicious! So I knew if I took away this bottle of Tempranillo we were in for a treat.

Granite Ridge Tempranillo does the Granite Belt proud

I’ve spoken a lot about the Granite Belt in my wine articles because I think it is an underrated wine region. When you are getting such decent wines out of a region with such interesting varieties, you know you’re on to a good thing. Granite Ridge is definitely one of the larger producers in the region so they have a lot on offer in terms of different varieties. It’s great because every time we go there we seem to try something different. Although we still have our old favourites!

The Granite Ridge Tempranillo is no different. The Granite Belt is known for experimenting with different varieties, and there is a lot of Tempranillo you can try. One of my favourite wines from last year was just that! However, I particularly loved this Granite Belt one. I wasn’t sure what it was going to taste like when I cracked it open because it did have a bit of age on it. But low and behold this wine was super complex, deep, dark and delicious. And the best part is you can still pick it up from the winery for under $25!

Why I love it

The Granite Ridge Tempranillo 2013 is just plain delicious. The wine’s age has added some real complexity through dark and deep flavours. It makes this wine perfect for cold winter nights cuddled up on the couch. However, these dark flavours are balanced with notes of cherry and a slight hint of floral aroma, which cuts through the heaviness a little.

What I loved most about this wine was how the taste lingered. It had a great balance of tannin and acidity, and the lingering taste long after you took a sip tied it off perfectly. For those that don’t like a heavy wine, this may not be your cup of tea. But if you are after something heavy and deep that leaves you wanting more, the Granite Ridge Tempranillo is your pal. It’s complexity and lingering flavours really make for a pleasant drinking experience, and I found it all too easy to drink glass after glass despite its heaviness.

This is coming from someone who normally isn’t the biggest fan of heavy wines. I think because of the cherry and good balance of flavours, this was a great example of how a heavy wine can balance flavours and not overpower the palate. Either that or I was just in a heavy wine mood! Cosy cabins in the woods will do that to a person, right?

What to enjoy it with

Because of the heaviness in this wine, I would recommend having it with food. It would go really well with meat or tomato-based dishes. A ragu with pasta would be something I could tackle alongside a beautiful bottle of wine like this!

However, if you are like me and decide to crack it open after you’ve eaten your body weight in food at a cooking class (true story), I think you’ll still enjoy it. Although it is probably better served with food, it isn’t overpoweringly rich with its flavours, so you could still enjoy it on its own. I would recommend this after dinner though rather than starting the night off with a glass of this. You certainly won’t be able to go back to sipping on white wine after this one!

The final word on the Granite Ridge Tempranillo 2013

The Granite Ridge Tempranillo 2013 is the perfect example of an older wine that maintains great flavours. It isn’t overpowering and has still maintained a good balance of tannin and acidity. This makes it quite delicious to keep drinking despite its heaviness. The flavours were complex but really delicious with the older tastes in the wine balancing well with the cherry.

I really enjoyed drinking this wine and I’m so glad we cracked it open this weekend. It makes me think I should be going into our mid-tier wines more often! This definitely would have gone down a treat with the finale of Game of Thrones or for a midweek cheeky wine, or you know, any other occasion! If you haven’t tried Granite Ridge wines, I definitely recommend you check them out. They have a great store online where you can still pick this wine up to try for yourself.