office: (+61) 3 9495 6373 email: tsa@thespanishacquisition.com web: www.thespanishacquisition.com

Telmo Rodriguez, D.O. Ribera del Duero ‘M2 de Matallana’ and ‘Matallana’ D.O. Ribera del Duero The vogue region for Tempranillo at present, D.O. Ribera del Duero is a couple of hours north of Madrid, it’s a warm-by-day, very cool-at-night high altitude river valley system (ribera = river), which flows west into Portugal and is re-badged at the border as the Douro (as in Douro Valley, where Port Wine is grown). As you drive east into the valley from the region’s central city, Valladolid, the terroir lays out clearly for all to see. Either side of the big ‘ole river stretches perhaps a kilometre of sandy flats, planted to very withered old dry grown bush vines of Tempranillo. Away from the river, the flats give rise to low, stony hills, through which you drive north to Rioja and Basque country. Tempranillo here is darker, juicier, earthier, meatier than say in Rioja. It’s home to supple, fleshy earth-perfumed wine with an eerie resemblance to Burgundy; and also to some steroidal monsters tricked up with Cabernet and very toasty new American oak barriques. Tempranillo Spain’s primary indigenous variety, and which is now being planted enthusiastically all over Australia. King Valley, Heathcote, Clare Valley, Margaret River … While these plantings grow up, however, the gems reside in the old bush vines which proliferate in the high altitude regions of Central-Northern Spain. Known by a different name in virtually every region – Tempranillo in Rioja, Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Tinta de Toro in Toro … and Cencibel, Ulle de Llebre and many others elsewhere. Produces, when well grown, delicious pithy black cherry fruit, with ripe but usually gentle earthy tannins – has a meaty-earthy aspect, and usually some ripe dark spices. Can be wondrously perfumed in the mouth, in the same vein as Barolo and Burgundy. Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez In his mid 40’s, Telmo is the son of the family which owns the highly regarded Remelluri estate in Rioja, where he was winemaker while putting together estates of his own. An oenology graduate from Bordeaux University, he has worked with some of the great names of the Rhone – Chave, Clape, Guigal and the Perrin brothers. Regarded as somewhat of an ‘enfant terrible’ for his outspoken views, Telmo is a passionate opponent of the internationalisation of Spanish vineyards, and is dedicated to a way forward for Spain which combines indigenous varieties with superior viticulture and winemaking. He and his long-term wine-making and viticulturist partner, Pablo Eguzkiza, created ‘Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez’ with the aim of selecting outstanding vineyards to produce the best regionally typical varieties. Attention to viticultural care is first class. In the winery the entire philosophy is to let the fruit speak – there is not a less ‘recipe-oriented’ winemaker anywhere. Low crop levels from old, high altitude bush vines are typically made into three quality bands: a price-friendly drinker of great character and quality, a premium French-oaked wine from the most concentrated fruit, and a super wine selected from the most elegant and refined barrels. The Ribera del Duero wines fall into the top-most bracket: they are entirely handmade, biologically grown and matured for 18 months in new French barriques. Although beautifully made, with great finesse and integration, these beg for at least 3 years' cellaring to allow regional perfume, earth, and all the many layers of complexity to really express.

office: (+61) 3 9495 6373 email: tsa@thespanishacquisition.com web: www.thespanishacquisition.com

Telmo Rodriguez ‘Matallana’ If you cannot afford Pingus (made by Telmo's best mate, Peter Sisseck), then you have to get your hands on Matallana. The wine is as gorgeous as the label, and perfectly captures the specifics of Ribera del Duero – a steely, minerally under-carriage from the poor sand soils running away from the riverbank; deep, dark, soft earth spices (soy, anise …) and all that rich, dark cherry-chocolate-tobacco fruit. Profound and powerful, but accords beautifully with Telmo's concern for elegance and integration. As with Rioja, 2001 was utterly superb in Ribera del Duero. Along with Cirsion, Pingus and Vega, Matallana is widely considered among the 5 greatest Tempranillo wines available. Telmo Rodriguez ‘M2 de Matallana’ Literally, the second wine of Matallana, Telmo makes M2 in a deliberately ‘feminine’ style, for ease of early access, but also as a style preference for better representation of Tempranillo’s more subtle side. Basically, Telmo’s position is that Tempranillo is a delicate grape variety, and that big, extracted blockbusters are not the most sympathetic or appropriate style. Really, really wonderful fruit such as that used in Matallana and Pingus can handle new barriques and still be subtle, perfumed wines, but most often Tempranillo requires rather more subtle handling. For M2, this means new and one-year old oak, but based on 600 litre larger formats, for subtle impregnation with, rather than domination by oak. Resultantly, M2 shows Tempranillo’s naturally juicy, velvety fruit profile and cloud of heady back palate perfume to great advantage.