Price: $9
Maker: Osborne Seleccion SA, Toledo, Spain
Varietal: Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, screw cap
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10
In an age when wine names are often cute or funny, Tempra Tantrum 2008 Tempranillo/Cabernet scores big on the cuteness scale. The wine itself isn’t bad either. This blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon is very juicy, with spicy blackberry and raspberry notes on the front end. There’s a hint of chocolate in there, too, followed by a long-lasting tannic finish. This isn’t a complex wine, but it’s highly drinkable and fine for party or picnic fare.
According to the Tempra Tantrum website, this Cab mashup is one of four Tempranillo blends offered by 6th-generation winemaker Rocio Osborne. The website describes the aging process, or lack thereof:
Once fermentation is complete the wine is aged for a short time using a cutting edge technique called micro-oxygenation, which softens the wine and brightens the fruit flavors. Because the wines are made in such a novel soft/gentle style, they require minimum bottle-aging.
They describe the wine as stylish and modern, which I interpret as “not too challenging for the casual wine-drinker.”
Not everyone likes this wine. The Wine Cask Blog thought that, “overwhelming bitter acids and unbalanced blanching tannins make this actually unpleasant.” Ugh, bad bottle, I guess. The Kitchn had better luck, reporting the whole Tempra Tantrum line to be tasty and well balanced. In the Cab blend, they found “Classic cassis and blackberry aromas, with earthy, peppery notes. Vibrant flavors, ripe but slightly firmer tannins.”
For $8-$10 bucks, you shouldn’t go too far wrong with Tempra Tantrum 2008 Tempranillo/Cabernet. It’s a crowd pleaser with a terminally cute (but clever) name.