A Tempranillo from Oregon: Abacela South East Block

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A Tempranillo from Oregon: Abacela South East Block

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One of the judges this week at the ML Wine competition is Earl Jones, who owns the Abacela winery in southern Oregon. He’s an interesting chap: he came to wine after a career as a research professor in immunology. His main focus is Tempranillo, and Earl was the first to bottle a varietal Tempranillo in the USA. It was nice to be able to try this wine.

Abacela Tempranillo South East Block 2009 Oregon
Very rich and ripe with dense black fruits and sweet oak. There’s a big oak imprint, with notes of vanilla, coconut and spice, as well as sweet yet fresh berry and plum fruit. Tasted blind this could be straight from Spain, with its combination of ripe fruit and oak. It’s not my favourite style, but it is very well done and will probably age into mellow maturity in a decade or so. 90/100

1 Comment on A Tempranillo from Oregon: Abacela South East BlockTagged ,
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

One thought on “A Tempranillo from Oregon: Abacela South East Block

  1. Jamie
    Nice mention of Abacela’s South East Block Reserve in your excellent story and photos on ML wine 2014. Appreciate your scientific background and incisive thought process in both conversation and your writings.
    Early3

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