2018 Rusty Mutt Tempranillo

$35.00

The colour is a dark ruby/violet with youthful purple hues. Dark cherries slowly reveal themselves after opening, and savoury meats, spices and plums begin to open up with time in the glass. The palate shows a terrific mix of fleshy red fruits, sour cherry, pomegranite juice and bramble berry acidity.

Enjoy with Spanish omelete and chorizo, charcuterie – particularly cured pork, meaty tapas, pizza with olive, tomato and proscuitto.

93 POINTS Stuart Robinson Feb 2020

92 POINTS Thomas Girgensohn Feb 2020

Tasting Notes;

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A perfectly suited Mediterranean variety.

Tempranillo

Due to the mild, ocean influenced Mediterranean climate of McLaren Vale, a wide range of grape varieties grow well here. Tempranillo is widely grown in Spain where the climate and conditions can be much hotter than McLaren Vale. Its suitability for McLaren Vale is actually increasing as we experience hotter conditions with more heat events during the growing and ripening seasons. With only a few years of experience working with this variety, I've found that it becomes flavour ripe at a lower sugar level, which translates to lower alcohol in the bottle. This bright fruity young red is 1% alcohol lower than the other red wines I produce. The flavours and textures of Tempranillo work very well with a broad range of foods.

Style features

Youthful colour with a fleshy texture and bright cherry fruit flavours with very low oak influence.

Vintage Rating

8/10. A healthy growing season which produced bright concentrated wines.

Food Matching

Enjoy with Spanish omelettes and chorizo, charcuterie – particularly cured pork, meaty tapas, pizza with olive, tomato and prosciutto.

When to drink

Drink now to 2026.

Why the name?

‘Conejo Joven’ (pronounce ‘j’ like ‘h’) is Spanish for ‘Young Rabbit’. A long time coming, this wine completes my immediate family of wines! Named for my son Tobias, who is a Golden Rabbit in Chinese Astrology. Rabbits are lucky, don’t take unnecessary risks, are polite, peaceful and funny. They are also meticulous and clean (perhaps Tobias will grow into these traits!). In many ways, these characters reflect this wine. Clean, familiar and friendly – definitely a no risk wine to open with many foods. It has a bright, exciting edge to it. Give it a go, I’m sure it will be your new favourite!

Pronounced ‘tem-pra-nee-yo’

The colour is a deep ruby/violet with youthful purple hues. Dark cherries slowly reveal themselves after opening, and savoury meats, spices and plums begin to open up with time in the glass. The palate delivers a terrific mix of fleshy red fruits, sour cherry, pomegranate juice and bramble berry acidity.

"Creamy vanilla over blue fruit. Certainly an inviting number, all too often Tempranillo can be a dried out wine, not here where winemaker Scott Heidrich crafted a succulent example. It's fresh and bright - per the Joven label. That doesn't mean it's a simple and fruit driven number; a fine rub of tannin casts its hand across the palate bringing length. A sheer delight, not often I say that about Aus Tempranillo. 93 POINTS" Stuart Robinson - 'The Vinsomniac'

"Delivers dark cherry flavours with good depth of fruit. The acidity brightens up the wine. It is not very complex, but ticks all Tempranillo boxes. This is a satisfying wine with a balanced finish to boot. 92 POINTS" Thomas Girgensohn

"There's a lot of care and attention that goes into the Rusty Mutt range; an eclectic McLaren Vale selection of viognier, shiraz, grenache and tempranillo that are hand plunged and basket pressed. This is a particularly appealing take on the Spanish grape variety tempranillo. The fruit is the hero with its bright dark cherry flavours allied to hints of spice and earthy deli notes. There is some fresh acidity and this would be terrific with anything from a Spanish omelette to paella. Deliciousness in a bottle. And it got better over two successive days once opened." Windsor Dobbin