Family owned and operated, Barossa earthworks make its wines from 100% Barossa grapes, grown at small family owned vineyards. Drawing on more than 160 years of local wine knowledge, traditional winemaking methods and minimal processing are used to preserve the purity, integrity, texture and flavour of the wines. Blood red in colour, Earthworks Tempranillo opens with boysenberry, pepper, a hint of charred meats and black forest cake aromas. The soft tannins spread over your palate giving a juicy, ferrous, velvet mouth feel, a must try in our opinion.

Created by wine specialists from eleven different countries, this innovative brand aims to bring together the worlds best drops under a single, distinctive, quality mark - the woolly red sweater of Tussock Jumper. This Tempranillo has the aroma of black wild fruit like blackberry and mulberry. The palate is soft, silky and well balanced with a full lingering finish. best served at room temperature and your favourite pizza.

Red fruit aromas with hints of blackberry and spice. Flavours of strawberry and vanilla on the palate with savoury overtones, subtle oak and well balanced tannins. Try it with a spicy tapas feast with chorizo or lamb chops on the BBQ.

Brown Brothers continue to use their nursery vineyard to bring alternate varietal wines to the wine loving comunity. Tempranillo is a grape this is suited beautifully to the Australian climate and Brown Brothers produce a wine that shows a fruity cherry like aroma with hints of blackberry and plum. The palate displays flavours of strawberrry and vanilla with savoury gamey overtones and well balanced tannins.

Spain continues to inspire Australia with wines of character, tradition and freshness. These characters plus a little bit of passion and beauty can be tasted in this ripping Vino Tinto from Bodegas Borsao. Made from Tempranillo sourced from vineyards in northern Spain that have been producing quality Tempranillo for generations, this flavoursome red shows delicious cherry and plum flavours and it ideally matched with red meats and hard cheeses.

The 2014 Yalumba Y Series Tempranillo has aromas of blueberry, black cherry and fennel seed leaping from the glass. It is juicy and plush on the palate with apparent dark berries and mocha tannins. The finish is rustic and savoury. Enjoy with salt and pepper grilled lamb cutlet.

This wine exudes typical Tempranillo characteristics from Rioja, with black berry and red berry flavours and aromas (blackcurrant, blackberry and raspberry). On the palate, it is very smooth with the fruit intensity and tannins working in perfect harmony, giving way to a lingering finish.

A rich unmistakable Rioja jammed packed with flavours of ripe dark berries and plum. This bargain has been a favourite of ours for a while now and is a fabulous match to hearty casseroles and spicy sausages.

Crafted in typical Mr Mick style, this wine has subtle French oak, smooth tannins, distinctive varietal characters of strawberries and red cherries, a hint of spice and a long lingering finish.

Upon much deliberation, our overall masked winner revealed a style and character that provided us with a fairly clear cut insight into the modern day advances of a region etched in history and tradition. Cosme Palacio consistently produces one of our favourite Riojas that always offers incredible value for money. Produced predominantly from Tempranillo grown in cool, relatively high altitude sites, this is modern Rioja that's bright and ready to go thanks to a touch of bottle age. It's medium bodied with fine tannins and juicy in the mouth. Black fruits dominate the flavour profile with some delicate cedar and earthy notes adding complexity to a delicious example from this much loved region.

Marqués de Riscal Próximo is a new addition to the Marqués range and is a bright and fruit driven Rioja style sourced from slightly younger Tempranillo vines. Very strict parcel selection along with traditional picking techniques, this Rioja is bursting with dark blackberry fruit with notes of rich, ripe plums. Hints of liquorice and star anise also give the wine a superb backbone that is perfectly suited many Mediterranean cuisines.