Mr Riggs 2008 Yacca Paddock Tempranillo

This Tempranillo looks fantastic, a deep opaque cherry red it displays flashes of purple as you swirl it round your glass, it also leaves fantastic legs that stain the glass displaying its high 14.5% alcohol content. Fragrant the slightly fruity slightly earthy nose draws you in, the complex dark fruit stands out and is very pleasant. Velvety and smooth on the front of the palate with savoury fruit and dark cherry flavours which linger after a pleasant hit of good tannin structure. With great length this wine is very impressive and gets 10 fold better with a bit of food which brings out the smooth velvety fruit characteristics and softens the tannins.

To be blunt and uncomplicated..... I loved the approachability of this wine for most palates. Good fruit, not to dry, not too sweet, just good easy drinking with a pleasant complexity that will have more sophisticated palates still asking for more.

Halliday had this to say and gave it 94;

Brightly coloured; has impressive focus, length and intensity to its display of spicy black cherry fruit, and convincing tannins on the finish.

All accounts of this wine I have seen are good Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh had this to say in their 'Big Red Wine Book 2010/11;

There's something cool and dusty about this wine. In a good way. It tastes like a mix of juicy cherries and dusty earth, and when you swallow you'd almost swear that you'd just finished licking a granite rock. Seriously! It has that mineral kind of flavour. We're fans.

I give this a 9.5 out of 10 and seriously will be buying some more tomorrow as I really enjoyed it.

www.nicks.com.au has the 2007 vintage of this wine at $24.99 a bottle as to various other online stores but I managed to purchase is from First Choice liquor for about $22. Either way its not exactly a cheap bottle but definitely worth the price you pay. Don't pay more than $27 because you'd be getting ripped but definitely buy a bottle and try it.

I love Tempranillo and even more now I've learned how to pronounce it correctly and this just slipped into one of my all time favourites. This tasting has prompted me to try more of Ben Riggs' wines including some other labels I've seen advertised. Wish me luck! You'll be sure to hear how I go. Happy drinking.