Trophy-winning dozen includes Vinifera tempranillo, Bleasdale cabernet blend, Penna Lane riesling and Lost Farm chardonnay

It’s the Spanish-influenced red capturing the hearts of Australian winemakers. Here’s an award-winning example that shouldn’t be overlooked.

A quartet of trophy winners are included in this week’s special offer from The Australian Wine Club.

Could tempranillo be the Cinderella of Australian wine? Dominated by brasher siblings, never having the spotlight and yet – if you take the time to find out – alluringly beautiful and elegant in her own right?

Across Australia’s winegrowing regions there are small producers who heartily agree, turning out sophisticated tempranillo while waiting for the wine-buying public to catch on.

Winemakers will also point to the fact it’s a varietal perfectly suited to the extremes of Australia’s viticultural climates.

Globally it’s a different story when it comes to popularity – since 2000, some estimates say, more tempranillo vines have been planted than any other variety, with the vast majority being in Spain, where it’s the dominant varietal in Rioja’s widely popular wines.

The name of the grape is actually a diminutive of the Spanish word for early, as it ripens quicker than most Spanish grape varietals, which can mean that even in the hotter areas it avoids the extremes of an Australian summer. It also thrives in our cooler-climate regions and some believe those produce a particularly elegant strain of tempranillo.

“I think it’s really well suited to the younger generations of wine drinkers who appreciate something soft and approachable,” says Sam McKendry of Vinifera Wines, whose Mudgee vineyard produces Spanish varietals led by an organic tempranillo. “They like the fact it’s a very food-friendly wine that matches well with the Mediterranean diet that’s increasingly popular, rather than the old meat and two veg.”

The 2023 iteration is part of this week’s special offer case from The Australian Wine Club, a quartet of trophy winners that also includes Bleasdale’s Frank Potts Langhorne Creek Cabernet Blend (97 points from James Halliday), a Penna Lane Clare Valley Riesling (97 points by WinePilot) and Lost Farm’s Tasmanian Chardonnay; all four between them garlanded with medals and trophies.

Buoyed by the success of its tempranillo, Vinifera’s varietals are all Spanish style for good reason. Sam’s father, Tony McKendry, was a successful doctor but dreamt of running a winery for so long that his fellow students used to joke about it at medical school.

Determined to have a “second career”, as Sam puts it, Tony studied winemaking at Charles Sturt University with a dream of planting pinot noir grapes in the hinterland of Mudgee in central NSW.

“Luckily, Dad was talked out of it as pinot really wouldn’t have been a long-term prospect in Mudgee,” says Sam of a region where winter temperatures can drop below freezing.

“One of his professors told him to look at (what works in) Rioja as the northern part has a climate very much like Mudgee – and, as it turned out, at the time tempranillo cuttings were easier to source than many others.

“So Dad became an early adopter and planted it in 1994 – it grew well, he produced well and the wines did well.”

Sam is in the midst of working on a marketing plan for Mudgee wines, which as a region can have a similarly out-of-the-limelight feel to tempranillo itself despite their quality, but she’s convinced the grape will have its place in the sun – at least metaphorically speaking.

“There’s not enough on the market (nationally) to demand space on the shelves of bottle shops or on wine lists, but there’s a lot of quality in small batches from small producers,” she says. “It’s our most popular wine, and more and more people are discovering it.”

Vinifera Mudgee Organic Tempranillo 2023

● NSW Small Winemaker Show, The Bakehouse Trophy Best Dry Red Table Wine, Spanish Varieties

Hold on for the ride as you breathe in raspberry notes and cola, ripe plums and chocolate, with a back note of spice and fig, especially as it opens up. Sweet fruit is to the fore on the palate but also chocolate and spice, all deftly marshalled by tannins that deliver a medium body and lovely, juicy finish. 14.2% alc, RRP $40 a bottle.

SPECIALS: $34.99 in any dozen, $29.99 in our trophy winners dozen.

Bleasdale Frank Potts Langhorne Creek Cabernet Blend 2021

● Trophy, Royal Perth Wine Show 2023
● Best Dry Red Blend of Show

Trophy, Langhorne Creek Wine Show 2023

● Best Red Blend of Show Trophy, Langhorne Creek Wine Show 2023, Champion Wine of Show

Multiple trophy and medal judges can’t be wrong, and this is beguiling from the blackberry and blueberry notes on the nose melded with cassis, cigar box and the merest hint of menthol. There’s so much glorious fruit on the palate, blackcurrant and dark plum to the fore, and a juicy acidity – and yet also refinement and structure, and a really good length. 13.5% alc, RRP $39 a bottle.

SPECIALS $37 in any dozen, $29.99 in our trophy winners dozen.

Lost Farm Tasmania Chardonnay 2023

● Best Tasmanian Chardonnay Trophy, Melbourne International Wine Competition 2024

A miscellany of chardonnay hits is here – nectarine and peach on the nose, with citrus, a touch of melon, cashews and freshly mown grass. The palate is creamy, dreamy and lemony, with a snap of Tassie-climate acidity to keep the refreshment barometer set to high. 13% alc, RRP $48 a bottle.

SPECIALS $41.99 in any dozen, $29.99 in our trophy winners dozen.

Penna Lane Clare Valley Riesling 2024

Winner of four trophies at the CCL 2024 Clare Valley Wine Show:
● Jim Barry Trophy for Best Wine of Show

● Mick Knappstein Trophy for Best Current Vintage Riesling
● Best Riesling of Show

● Best Single Vineyard Wine

The pale lemon hue with just hints of green in the glass is a wonderful precursor to a nose full of gooseberry, lemon and lime cordial, even some floral notes. The palate is nicely crisp with lovely balancing, vibrant fruit. Together with generous, fine acid it makes for an elegant and appealing finish. 10.5% alc, RRP $35 a bottle.

SPECIALS $33.99 in any dozen, $29.99 in our trophy winners dozen.

TROPHY WINNERS DOZEN Three bottles of each wine above for $29.99 a bottle. SAVE $126.

Order online or phone [phone] Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST and quote ‘AC4D’. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550.