Crabtree Estate Tempranillo 2023

Within the greater Clare Valley appellation, Watervale ranks highly in Riesling matters, so this is a “wait there’s more” moment, going even beyond the region’s more traditional reds duo of Cabernet and Shiraz to this Spanish variety planted on the slopes above the Watervale hamlet in 1997, the first of its kind in the ground in the region. No longer “emerging” or “alternative” but its own fine self, offering a nod, as proprietor Jason Clare and winemaker Peter Burford suggest, to Rioja’s Crianza style. With that in mind, we see here a fleshy, peppery wine, light to medium bodied in style – note the low alcohol reading, a result of it being the first harvested variety on the estate in order to retain fruit acidity in the finished wine. It’s fresh, lively with crimson to black cherry like flavours and a subtle woodiness in the finish. Easy going and a neat companion to casual Mediterranean menus.

Tony Love

Journalist at Winepilot

Tony is best known for his 10 years as News Corp’s National Wine Writer, with weekly columns in major metropolitan mastheads throughout Australia including The Adelaide Advertiser, The Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Melbourne Herald Sun. He continues to write feature articles and columns for all the major Australian wine media publications. Tony has also worked as a restaurant reviewer, section editor, book editor, digital content provider, journalism teacher and was named Wine Communicators of Australia 2018 Legend of the Vine (SA). Find out more about Tony at tonylove.com.au

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