Battle of the Texas Tempranillos

It seems a Battle of Texas wines is a regular event now at Texas Wine Lover. Last year we had the Battle of the Texas Roussannes. Since we had previously done two white wines, it was now time for a red wine. Tempranillo is arguably the signature red wine of Texas, so it was only fitting that the next battle be the Battle of the Texas Tempranillos.

We started planning the Battle in May and invited all Texas wineries we knew who made Tempranillo to submit their wines for the Battle. A date was set in November, tweaked, and eventually final for November 8th. Unfortunately with the summer heat arriving, wineries were unable to ship wine, so during summer winery visits for those wanting to participate, we picked up the bottles and stored them in a temperature controlled environment. Like last year’s Battle of the Texas Roussannes which was held at Nice Winery, owners Ryan Levy and Ian Eastveld also let us hold the Tempranillo battle at their winery.

We knew Tempranillo was a very popular wine in Texas, so we decided in order to be fair in the judging from the first wine to the last, that we would let a winery who wanted to participate to select only their best Tempranillo if they had more than one available. Even though we were limiting the wines to one per winery, we still ended up with 28 wineries participating meaning 28 wines. This was a tremendous participation by Texas wineries! Two requirements on the wine were that at least 75% of the wine had to be Texas Tempranillo and it had to be currently purchasable or soon to be available. We even had a winery pull wines out of their library and have available for purchase after the Battle so they could participate.

It was now time to create a judges list for the Tempranillos. Like last year, we still felt that the best judges are a mix of different types of people instead of concentrating on one select group doing the judging. After all, there is more than one demographic group that drinks Texas wine. Invitations were sent out and the number of judges finalized to 15 judges. Gloria Schlanser and I decided to eliminate ourselves from judging so we could better handle the event. Fortunately with the announcement of the new Texas Wine Lover team, the rest of the team, Jeremy Wilson and Rebecca Marmaduke, were able to attend and be judges. The resulting set of judges was an eclectic set including winemakers, winery owners, winegrowers, sommeliers, wine bloggers/writers, experienced judges, and wine lovers.

The Wines

The wines included in the blind tasting in alphabetical order were:

• Arché, Tempranillo 2012, Montague County Rockin’ S Vineyard, $25.95
• Barking Rocks Vineyard and Winery, Tempranillo 2011, Texas High Plains, $20
• Becker Vineyards, Reserve Tempranillo 2013, $16.95
• Bending Branch Winery, Tempranillo 2011, Newsom Vineyards, $40
• Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard, Tempranillo 2012, $23
• Brennan Vineyards, Tempranillo Fall 2012, $26
• Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery, Tempranillo 2012, Rush Creek Vineyards, $34.99
• Duchman Family Winery, Tempranillo 2012, Bayer Family Vineyard, $34
• Fall Creek Vineyards, Tempranillo 2011, Salt Lick Vineyards, $29.99
• Flat Creek Estate, Tempranillo 2011, Lost Draw Vineyards, $34.95
• Haak Vineyards & Winery, Tempranillo 2012, Reddy Vineyards, $19.95
• Hye Meadow Winery, 100% Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $36
• Kiepersol Estates, Texas Tempranillo 2011, KE Vineyards, $14.99
• Landon Winery, Grand Reserve 2012, Bingham Family Vineyards, $N/A
• Lewis Wines, Texas Tempranillo 2011, Parr Vineyards, $32
• Llano Estacado Winery, Cellar Reserve Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $16.99
• Long Shot Winery, .338 Tempranillo, High Plains, $22.50
• Lost Draw Cellars, Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $36
• Lost Oak Winery, Tempranillo, Bingham Family Vineyards, $25.95
• McPherson Cellars, La Herencia 2012, $14
• Pedernales Cellars, Tempranillo Reserve 2012, Texas Hill Country and High Plains, $39.99
• Pemberton Cellars, Tempranillo 2012, Estate, $28
• Pontotoc Vineyard, Tempranillo 2013, 100% Estate, $30
• Spicewood Vineyards, Tempranillo 2012, Texas Hill Country Estate, $45.99
• Texas Hills Vineyard, Toro de Tejas 2010, Newsom Vineyards, $19.95
• Texas Legato, Tempranillo 2012, $26
• Torre di Pietra, Tempranillo, NV 2012 and 2013 Texas Hill Country, $34.95
• Wedding Oak Winery, Tempranillo Reserva 2012, Texas High Plains, $32

 

The Tasting

Since we needed to get a result of the wines in preferred order, we decided to use the same scoring system as we used last year which gave us a result from 70-100 per wine. Most wines also had a backup bottle in case one wine was determined to have a fault.

Last year we gave the top five wine results instead of the entire list from top to bottom. We believe this was fair since the last place wine might imply it was a bad wine, when in fact it may be very good but just got a lower score. Because of the number of Tempranillo wines, we decided to give the top 10 results.

Ben Marmaduke (Rebecca’s husband) and I handled bagging and numbering of the wines. All foil capsules were removed if present. It was decided like last year to put the wine in brown bags and tape the neck to the top of the bottles. This also covered any possible screw cap indication.

We decided due to the amount of wines and people, we would serve three wines per flight. Crackers, cheeses, meats, and water were available to cleanse palates during the tasting.

All the judges arrived and we sat down to begin the blind tasting. After instructions on judging were given, the first round of three wines was poured by experienced pourers Jeremy Wilson and Ryan Levy. Like last year, there were five minutes given per round for the judging of the three wines.

After tasting and judging all the wines, it was time for the unveiling of the wines and the judges were able to see for the first time the wines they had judged as their favorites. For the first time, gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded for the top three wines.

The Results

With the scores tabulated and ranked, the results were presented to the group. We had previously decided to list the top 10, but there was a tie for 9th place, so these are the top 11 wines which were ranked by the group of 15 judges:

1. Lost Draw Cellars, Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $36
2. Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery, Tempranillo 2012, Rush Creek Vineyards, $34.99
3. Bending Branch Winery, Tempranillo 2011, Newsom Vineyards, $40
4. Becker Vineyards, Reserve Tempranillo 2013, $16.95
5. Pontotoc Vineyard, Tempranillo 2013, 100% Estate, $30
6. Hye Meadow Winery, 100% Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $36
7. Duchman Family Winery, Tempranillo 2012, Bayer Family Vineyard, $34
8. Barking Rocks Vineyard and Winery, Tempranillo 2011, Texas High Plains, $20
9. (tie) Kiepersol Estates, Texas Tempranillo 2011, KE Vineyards, $14.99
10. (tie) Llano Estacado Winery, Cellar Reserve Tempranillo 2012, Texas High Plains, $16.99
11. (tie) Pedernales Cellars, Tempranillo Reserve 2012, Texas Hill Country and High Plains, $39.99

Look for a follow-on post with a detailed analysis of the top 11 wines and another special post with video on the Battle.

Overall, the tasting had been a fun and educational time with a great representation and showing of Texas Tempranillos.

The Judges

• Mike Batek – Hye Meadow Winery – owner
• Jarrett Buffington – Certified Sommelier
• Sergio Cuadra – Fall Creek Vineyards – winemaker
• Bill and Gail Day – Buena Suerte Vineyards – winegrowers
• Bob Landon – Landon Winery – owner/winemaker
• Marta Lastowska – Haak Vineyards & Winery – winemaker
• Jerry and Gail Levy – wine lovers
• Ryan Levy – Nice Winery, winemaker, Certified Sommelier, Certified Specialist of Wine
• Rebecca Marmaduke – Texas Wine Lover, Level I Introductory Sommelier
• Laurie and Shelly Ware – Wines At Road’s End
• James Watkins – Advanced Sommelier
• Jeremy Wilson – Texas Wine Lover, Level I Introductory Sommelier