This Red Wine Is Guaranteed to Give You Purple Teeth, and You’ll Still Want to Drink It

The first time I attended a professional wine tasting, I was absolutely shocked. Who were all those people shamelessly walking around with blue teeth and purple lips? And why were they so cheerful? It turned out to be because of the Spanish Ribera del Duero wine. 

Many countries have their own red-wine superstar. Italians have Nebbiolo, Australians have Shiraz, and Spain has Tempranillo. I’m happy just saying that name, although after a few glasses I do laugh with my mouth closed.

Miracle grape Tempranillo

Tempranillo is the well-known grape when it comes to Ribera del Duero, the wine region 120 kilometers north of Madrid. It also applies when you’re talking about Rioja, that other famous Spanish wine region; Rioja is even the classic Tempranillo region par excellence. The grape has been grown here for centuries. The finest Tempranillos from Rioja are often blends with other grapes. In Ribera del Duero, which is five times smaller than Rioja in terms of area, they don’t need that support from other grapes. It can easily handle the job all by itself.

This is not an area for lazing around in the sun; here it’s nine months of winter and three months of hell. It can freeze hard here in winter, while that hell is the scorching heat of sometimes more than forty degrees, shimmering across the high plateau in summer.

Ribera del Duero

The red wines from Ribera del Duero are known for their velvety structure and powerful flavor. They often undergo long aging in barrels and bottles, resulting in truly powerful wines. They owe this character to the high elevation of the vineyards along the banks of the Duero River, relatively close to the Atlantic Ocean. Ribera del Duero literally means ‘the banks of the Duero’. And those banks are covered with vineyards where Tempranillo—which they call Tinto Fino here, by the way—feels right at home. Grapes have been grown and wine made here since time immemorial, but the region only received its own appellation in 1982: a Denominación de Origen (D.O.). There were ten wineries then; now there are more than three hundred.

You’ll also find white and rosé wines here; Albillo is the only white grape permitted in Ribera, and only since very recently (2019). It is the red wine that Ribera owes its fame to.

From Joven to Gran Reserva

Tempranillo can offer a multitude of flavors and, conveniently, the label gives you an indication of what to expect. It indicates the style from light to full-bodied. What can you expect?

Joven: means young, means barely any oak, and means approachable, with plenty of fruit and a touch of spice.

Crianza: only comes onto the market after 2 years and has spent at least 6 months in wooden barrels. The wines are softer and fuller, with juicy aromas of red fruit, spices, and a lively kick.

Reserva: only comes onto the market after 3 years and has spent at least 12 months in wooden barrels. You can broadly distinguish two styles of Reserva wines: ‘the classic’, with very little fruit and lots of oak flavors (think vanilla, strawberry, coffee, and sweet spices), and ‘the modern’, with more black cherry, plum, concentrated blackberry, leather, and perhaps something smoky.

Gran Reserva: comes onto the market after 5 years and has spent at least 24 months in wooden barrels. That diversity is reflected in the price, from affordable everyday wine to mucho dinero.

What do you eat with it?

In Ribera, they eat a lot of meat. Lamb, for example, because it goes so well with the wine. Vegans have a problem here, because vegetables play a secondary role. Fish works too, especially salted cod, which in Ribera is often served with an olive-oil-style tomato sauce. And, of course, plenty of Jamón Ibérico and manchego.

Wine tip

Let me immediately recommend one of my favorites: Tinto Pesquera, packed with fruit and oak, from winemaker Alejandro Fernandez. You can pick it up for around 30 euros. It costs a bit, but you get what you pay for. A beast of a wine, absolutely delicious! You’ll take those purple teeth in stride, believe me.

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