Cellar Reserve Tempranillo
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 3–8 years from vintage release.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Tapas, roasted lamb shoulder, wood-fired mushroom pizza
✨ Technical Specifications
Penfolds Cellar Reserve range serves as an innovative playground for the winemaking team to step outside the traditional house style and explore alternative grape varieties. First released in the early 2000s, the Cellar Reserve Tempranillo is a brilliant testament to this spirit of experimentation. Sourced primarily from select vineyards in South Australia's warmer regions like McLaren Vale, where the Mediterranean climate mimics the grape's Spanish homeland, this wine captures the vibrant, savory essence of Tempranillo. Unlike the heavy American oak influence seen in traditional Penfolds classics, the Tempranillo is typically matured in seasoned French oak barriques. This approach preserves the grape's signature dusty, fine-grained tannins, bright cherry fruit, and complex notes of sarsaparilla, dried herbs, and leather, offering a contemporary Australian expression of an Old World classic.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1844 by Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold and his wife Mary at the Magill Estate in South Australia, Penfolds is one of Australia's oldest and most iconic wine producers. The estate achieved legendary international acclaim during the 1950s under visionary chief winemaker Max Schubert, who created Penfolds Grange and revolutionized the country's winemaking techniques. Driven by a celebrated philosophy of multi-regional and multi-varietal blending, Penfolds sources exceptional fruit across historic Australian terroirs—such as the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Coonawarra—as well as select premier global regions. The house is universally revered for powerful, impeccably structured, and long-lived wines, led by its flagship Grange, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, and celebrated Bin series.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Tempranillo
🍷 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
14.0% - 14.5%