Hancock & Hancock Australian Tempranillo

Hancock and Hancock wines is part of Robert Oatley Vineyards. Robert Oatley vineyards was created by Australian wine legend, the late, Bob Oatley in 2006, and was most famous for founding Rosemount Estate. Bobs son Sandy Oatley took over the running of the business following his father's death in January 2016. Chris Hancock has been making wine with Bob Oatley since 1976 and is the also the Deputy Executive Chairman. He also worked at Penfolds under Max Schubert and eventually was responsible for making 5 of the early vintages of Penfolds Grange.

Hancock and Hancock is a new venture Chris founded with his brother John in 2015 and is based at their La Colline vineyard in McLaren Vale.

The vineyard is situated in the McLaren Valein South Australia, which is the truly Hancock "Home "� vineyard. The vines are old, some of them are more than eighty years old, and they are planted on South East facing slopes. Here they are protected from strong winds and facing the gentle moving sun. There are three distinct soil types at the top middle and bottom sections of the hillside, so they find different characteristics from each of the vineyard sections giving added complexity and interest to the wine they make.

Tempranillo,

There are three distinct soil types at the top middle and bottom sections of the hillside, so we find different characteristics from each of the vineyard sections giving added complexity and interest to the wine we make.

Harvested late February, de-stemmed to small open fermenters. Gentle plunging twice daily. 10 days on skins, then pressed off to finish malolactic fermentation. Racked to old oak barrels (2014 & 2015 French barriques) for 12 months. Post barrel maturation with small amount of fining and filtering before bottling.

A beautiful dense shade of crimson. Lifted nose of dark cherry, raspberry & dark berry fruits. Delicate spice plus some more savoury tobacco leaf notes. Full bodied & luscious on the palate. Fine persistent tannins, great flavour length.

Great with BBQ or tomato based meat or pasta dishes. Also great with grilled and roasted red meats, pizza, casseroles & stews along with both mild and mature cheeses.

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight on Tempranillo Blog

This is exactly what we want to see more of! The warmer climates that Iberian grapes come from gives them some innate drought resistance, they are perfect for growing in countries where water management is a core issue.

Hancock & Hancock is a part of Robert Oatley Vineyards, a legendary McLaren Vale producer. The McLaren, just to the South of Adelaide, has a warm Mediterranean climate, (Summers dry, winters wet, 2/3rd of rain outside the growing season), so it is the perfect climate for Spanish grapes such as Garnacha and our focus of today, Tempranillo. The region has developed a reputation for old vine Garnacha, having some of the oldest vines in the world, but plantings of Tempranillo, whilst growing, are still minor.

Sustainability and site specificity are fast becoming the hallmarks of McLaren. Seemingly in defiance of climate change, temperatures here have remained stable, but more drought tolerant & less water intensive vines are being sought to preserve water reserves. McLaren Vale was the first region in Australia, maybe even the world, to identify and deliberately manage its water usage on a regional level, to ensure its underground aquifers, remain self-replenishing.

So, the wine itself, 12 months barrel aging in older oak would lead you to believe that this would be reminiscent of Rioja, but it is not, and it has a charm of its own. The savoury tobacco notes shine through, but the palate is luscious and ripe, the tannins are more velvety than anything I have encountered in Rioja and while the acidity is lower, the wine is just full of that hugely drinkable Aussie charm. We had this wine on our by the glass menu over the winter months and I think Sai tried to sell it to everyone who took a seat, he loves it that much! If that isn’t a way to recommend it to you, I don’t know what is.