Oz Wine Facts - Tempranillo Wines

Tempranillo is a red wine grape variety which is native to Spain. It is used in making of the full-bodied wines, particularly the famous Rioja wines of Spain. This variety has a neutral profile and is, therefore, blended with other varieties such as Grenache. It also responds well to ageing in oak barrels. In Australia, here are some quick facts about this varietal.

Tempranillo Grape Area in Australia

It is grown in 740 hectares of land area which is only 0.55 percent of the total land area under grape cultivation for the purpose of making wines. Thus, it is a marginal grape variety of Australia.

An important point to be noted in this respect is that the area under Tempranillo wine grape has been increasing ever since 2001 and has grown almost 7 times till 2015 (shown in chart, courtesy: Wine Australia)

Tempranillo Grape Production in Australia

As per the statistics available, a total of 5600 tonnes of grapes were crushed to make wines. This makes it a miniscule 0.35% of total grapes crushed in Australia in that year.

Important Tempranillo Regions in Australia

Murray Darling Region of New South Wales in Australia is the predominant area for growing Tempranillo variety of grapes. This contributes to 30 percent of total production of this grape in the country.

Second important region is that of Riverland which contributes to 16 percent production. Riverina, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley are other regions contributing 7% each to its production./p>

Tempranillo Wine Exports

While speaking of the wine exports in month ending July 2016, it can be said that Tempranillo wines had a share of 0.99 million litres. This signified a 79 percent improvement in export of Tempranillo wine.

People’s Republic of China, UK, USA, New Zealand and Canada are the major export markets for this wine. China’s share is 28% whereas that of UK is 23%.

It is interesting to note that in terms of the per bottle price, the highest percentage of wine exports are related to wines priced in range of AUD 5 per litre to AUD 20 per litre. The export sale is comparatively less for less than AUD 5 per litre wine bottles. This is shown in chart here (courtesy: Wine Australia)