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Mar 12, 2013 at 7:51 PM
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Be the first to comment on this postcelebrating tempranillo in texas
Nice article featuring TAPAS Texas members Continue »
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In 2011, TAPAS organized the first annual International Tempranillo Day: A celebration of the Tempranillo grape with all its regional synonyms. We encouraged everyone to open a bottle of Tempranillo, enjoy the fun, and share their experiences online with the hashtag #TempranilloDay or #Tempranillo. In 2012, the date was Thursday, November 8, 2012.
Tempranillo, indigenous to Spain and used in the great Rioja and Ribera del Duero wines, is planted in 500,000 acres of the world’s vineyards, making it the fourth most planted wine grape, and that would be enough to celebrate.
Until recently, this noble grape’s entire acreage was almost all grown in Spain. Perhaps others were confused by the 60 or more regional synonyms for Tempranillo, which in itself may be a record worth celebrating.
But things have changed: knowledge of this noble grape is rapidly spreading, creating excitement and a spirit of cooperation among adventurous vintners bringing this Old World variety to New World soils. Tempranillo today is grown in many more countries including the United States, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, France, Portugal, Turkey, Canada, China, Thailand, and more. And that’s why we established International Tempranillo Day.
For the Second Annual International Tempranillo Day, TAPAS worked with CRT/tanaka, creators of the Vibrant Rioja campaign, and Wine Harlots, hosts of the #TempranilloDay TweetChat, among others, to stage a combination of publicity, events and tastings to promote Tempranillo worldwide.
The TweetChat was organized around a group of Tempranillos from TAPAS members and Spanish producers. Eleven prominent wine bloggers received tech sheets and samples of these wines and discussed them on Twitter during the evening, led by Nannette Eaton of the Wine Harlots blog. Many others joined in, to the point where the hashtag #TempranilloDay was “trending” on Twitter for over an hour (two days after a major election!). People from all over mentioned their favorite Tempranillos, including a large number of TAPAS wines.
The TweetChat kicked off a month-long campaign by Vibrant Rioja, including a Facebook sweepstakes giving consumers an opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to Rioja, the world’s most famous Tempranillo-producing wine region, and a second prize of a Rioja Wine Dinner, as well as over a dozen runner-up prizes of Rioja gift packs throughout the month.
Vibrant Rioja organized Tempranillo tastings at a number of major retailers during the week of November 8, including Cool Vines in New Jersey, Haskell’s in Minneapolis, Whole Foods and Binny’s in Chicago, and K&L Wine Merchants and Total Wine in California. They also sponsored the Aqua Vino benefit event at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, hosted by Wolfgang Puck with food from his retaurants.
Caverna 57, a wine storage and event facility in east Sacramento, presented a tasting with ten Northern California TAPAS members: Boeger Winery, Dubost Winery, Yorba Wines, Baiocchi Wines, Six Sigma Winery, Ficklin Vineyards Port Society, St. Amant Winery, Bray Vineyards, Berryessa Gap Winery, and Riaza Wines. The Fuzion Eatz food truck provided foods to pair with the wines. The event was published in the Sacramento Bee and announced on KFBK Radio. Donations were made to the American Red Cross (Sandy Relief) and Friends of East Sacramento.
SignatureWines.com presented a Tempranillo celebration at El Sacromonte restaurant in Livermore, CA, with Latin American cuisine and special prices for Tempranillo by the glass.
TAPAS members stepped up to create several events, including:
- alegria wine and ware in San Luis Obispo had a special Tempranillo focus during the week, with Tempranillo flights, Spanish cheeses and Chorizo.
- Kriselle Cellars in White City, OR celebrated with tastings of their bottled 2009 award-winning Tempranillo and barrel samples of their 2010, along with a special Tapas menu and live Spanish guitar music.
- Red Lily Vineyards in Jacksonville, OR presented authentic Spanish tapas by Elements, live music Saturday afternoon with Spanish guitarist Scott Head, and vertical tastings of Red Lily Tempranillos from 2003 through 2007.
- Abacela hosted a trade event for restaurateurs and bottle shops in Portland, OR, featuring a shoot-out with domestic and Spanish Tempranillos. Abacela also provided complimentary tastings, a Tempranillo Day Party, and a vertical evening party attended by 40 at their winery in Roseburg, OR.
- Three Umpqua Valley TAPAS wineries, Abacela, Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards, and Delfino Vineyards, did an International Tempranillo Day Passport that moved 30-40 tasters on their little segment of the Nuevo Spanish Trail.
- Longoria poured their current 2009 Tempranillo and offered a sneak preview of their 2010 throughout the weekend, with live flamenco guitar music by Chris Fossek on Sunday afternoon in their garden in Los Olivos, CA.
- EdenVale offered vertical tastings at two locations in Oregon, pairing their 2004-2006 Tempranillos with tapas like Rosemary Skewered Chorizo and Potato and Seville-Orange Custard.
- Twisted Oak Winery did a consumer seminar on Foothills Tempranillo, comparing different vineyards and vintages, attended by about 30 people.
- Members participated in a “Woot!Plus” sale featuring Tempranillos on WineWoot.com.
- Several other members offered discounts and special events to celebrate the day, including Viader Napa Valley, Stottle Winery of Lacey, WA, and Oregon members Folin Cellars, RoxyAnn Winery and Valley View Winery.
Publicity around the event included articles such as –
- “A Snapshot of Tempranillo Producers in Oregon and California” by Louis Villard of Catavino
- “Celebrate Texas Tempranillo internationally on Nov. 8” by Ron Saikowski in the Houston Community Newspapers
- “An American ode to an Iberian favorite” by Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle
Not ten years ago, Americans couldn’t pronounce the name of our grape. They can now, and that’s progress, but there is still much more to be taught and learned about this noble grape. Remember Tempranillo is the last of the world’s major grapes to be produced in America at the level of excellence! So we will continue to hold International Tempranillo Day on an annual basis. Going forward, it will always be on the second Thursday in November. Thursday was selected to facilitate commercial activities, as most restaurants and bottle shops are too busy on weekend days. The day remains the same but the date varies, thus avoiding future conflicts with Election Day, All Souls' Day, Day of the Dead, All Saints' Day, etc. The second Thursday in November will never be earlier than the 8th nor later than the 14th; thus ITD will not crowd Thanksgiving.
Please join us in thanking our partners at Vibrant Rioja, and Thanks to all the TAPAS members, Sanchos, sponsors, bloggers, restaurants and retailers who participated this year!
For more information, you can contact:
- Stuart Spencer, TAPAS Secretary, (209) 629-2237, stuart@stamantwine.com
- Earl Jones, TAPAS Board Member, (541) 430-1733, earl@abacela.com
- Heidi Stine, TAPAS Executive Director, (480) 330-3766, heidi@tapasociety.org
And have a look at some 2011 events and photos at internationaltempranilloday.eventbrite.com.
