Tarantas Tempranillo 2012: Heavily marketing its organic grapes and vegan winemaking, Tarantas is a fine value play from Spain for mid-week drinking.
This tempranillo from the Utiel-Requena region near Valencia is made in a crianza style, which means it has had a minimum of one year in oak plus some bottle aging. That helps massage some of tempranillo’s typical tannins, making this friendly and approachable, especially at about $10 a bottle.
The unique nose has touches of camphor and white pepper, while the pleasing dry red fruit leads with blackberry and anise notes. While relatively light-bodied, it’s clearly meant to match and accent a spread of Spanish tapas, from patatas bravas to jamon Ibérico to stuffed piquillo peppers.
See tarantaswines.com.