Winter
Wines
2021 El Desperado Tempranillo
Our first ever Vintage of El Desperado was 2011, and will always be known in Australian wine history as the vintage from hell, as many vineyards succumb to the wet summer. For the Pawn, we sacrificed making our full range of wines that year to create a brand new style wine. Although we did not set out to make the El Desperado before that vintage, when you taste this wine, by hell you will be glad we did.
A blend of grapes from both our Adelaide Hills and Langhorne Creek vineyards, we have taken the finest characteristics of each, and handcrafted a full bodied wine that can be both a drink now style or cellar nicely for the medium term.
As the crow flies its only 20 kms between these blocks, but the Hills fruit brings lifted raspberry, cola and pomegranate, with a bright balanced acidity on the palate, while the Creek fruit infuses a generous earthiness with ripe plum and blackcurrants and the quotidian soft, long tannins.
Additional Information
| Variety trivia | As the crow flies its only 20 kms between these blocks, but the Hills fruit brings lifted raspberry, cola and pomegranate, with a bright balanced acidity on the palate, while the Creek fruit infuses a generous earthiness with ripe plum and blackcurrants and the quotidian soft, long tannins. |
|---|---|
| Chess Trivia | In chess, El Desperado is a doomed pawn that seems determined to give itself up to bring about a stalemate when captured, a pawn that is as good as dead and so sets out to do as much damage as possible. |
| Goes best with | Lamb Roast with Tom Cruise |
| Label Trivia | Blending was once seen by some as the poorer by-product of winemaking, but is now used to create wines which are greater than the sum of all parts. The blend of regions is something hidden by the corporate world, the lesser known regions often shunned from the label entirely. |
| Harvest Date | March 22nd 2021 Langhorne Creek Tempranillo |
| Vineyard Location | Macclesfield, Adelaide Hills, South Australia, |
| Harvest Weight | 8 tonnes/hectare |
| Alcohol | 14.5% |
| pH | 3.4 |
| T.A. | 6.63 |
Reviews (1)
1 review for 2021 El Desperado Tempranillo
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Tom Keelan –
WinePilot September 2023
El Desperado Tempranillo 2021
The fruit comes from Langhorne Creek and the Adelaide Hills so there’s weight and textural richness and a vibrant cool climate lift especially on the nose. This is a wine that screams: drink me. Lush plum and cherry with a savory finish. It’s medium bodied with a beautifully seamless and quite velvety mouthfeel. I want to drink this.
Score: 94/100 Cellar: 5 years
QwineReviews.com September 2023
Dangerously smooth, this takes pizza and pasta night to another level. Throw me a burger to match though, but a ragu will be just fine. A fabulous Tempranillo from El Desperado that oozes value at 20 bucks.
Scents of cedar and caramel skip from the glass with a flood of blueberries and plums filling the mouth. Fine spices are sprinkled throughout, and suddenly, I’m pouring another glass. Wonderfully persistent with a drying finish, the moreishness keeps calling you back – and it would be rude to not oblige.