2016 S.C. Pannell Tempranillo Touriga

S.C. Pannell

Australia / Adelaide Hills / S.C. Pannell

57% Tempranillo, 29% Touriga Nacional, 14% Tinta Cão. Hand-harvested, crushed, and traditionally vinified in small open-top fermenters. 7 months in 500-litre mature French oak puncheons with 20% in new oak.
Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional are indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula and are the most famous red grape varieties of Spain and Portugal respectively. Tempranillo is also grown in Portugal where it is known as Tinta Roriz, and traditionally blended with Touriga Nacional and other indigenous varieties to make both dry red table wines and port. Their climatic suitability to our South Australian wine growing region is unquestionable, resulting in increased sustainability and wines with great natural balance, complexity and flavour. Touriga Nacional is new to many Australian wine drinkers and produces lusty, powerful, medium-bodied red wines with pungent fruit characteristics of fruit mince or plum pudding, nutmeg spice and floral notes. It blends well with the luscious juicy blackberry, plum, earth and cocoa that is Tempranillo. The Portuguese variety, Tinta Cão has also been added to the 2016 blend, lending backbone and edgy tannin.
Abundant Tempranillo black fruits, cherry, fruit bread & red liquorice, overlaid with Touriga Nacional’s pungent fruit, jasmine-scented floral and nutmeg/cinnamon spices. The intense and tightly intertwined flavours of this rich and flavoursome wine are primarily of fresh blackberries and panforte, with a complex spice profile including clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.

James Halliday

Halliday Wine Companion 2019

96 points

57% tempranillo, 29% touriga, 14% tinta cao from McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley, open-fermented, matured for 7 months in French puncheons (20% new). This doesn't rely on tannin to become full-bodied, just ongoing drum rolls of black and glace cherries, panforte, an old drawer of spices, the tannins so sneakily firm that you may miss them the first time around, but not the second. Whether you go back to the bouquet or just the palate, there are constant discoveries awaiting you.

January, 2019

Jancis Robinson

JancisRobinson.com

17/20

Very deep crimson. Lovely mellifluous nose but with great structure. Fresh and yet luscious. Good value.

August, 2018

Nick Stock

jamessuckling.com

94 points

A deliciously spicy nose with Indian spices, dried herbs, blue licorice, blueberry skin and slate. Full-bodied with grippy tannins, enveloping the mouth and carrying flavours of herbs and minerals to the long and fresh finish. Drink in 2022.

February, 2018

Ray Jordan

The West Australian

93 points

Wow, this is a serious statement of a blend that Pannell has developed quite a following for. The varieties are native to Spain and work so well in McLaren Vale and Barossa's warm climes. Has rich plum and red fruit characters, with firmish tannins and savoury chalkiness. Lovely medium weight and a dry savoury finish that is ideal for so many red meats or cheeses.

April, 2018

Dave Brookes

The Adelaide Review

It’s a wine solidly packed with dark, black plum and berry fruits. Pure, vibrant and instantly endearing as soon as you shove your schnoz into the glass. Spice too. Lots of it along with wafts of purple flowers, cola and a fragrant vanilla bean note.
In the mouth it’s medium-bodied and slinky with a lovely weight to its ripe, pure fruit. Floral-edged and dredged with spice it is powerfully come-hither drinking and exerts a magnetic pull on the imbiber to pour another glass. It’s a cracker.

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About S.C. Pannell

Stephen Pannell is one of the most liked and respected winemakers in the business, loved also by a wine-drinking public looking for refreshing, aromatic white wines and reds that are approachable and moreish - in essence, wines that are serious while remaining irresistible to drink. S.C. Pannell has been part of the CellarHand family since the label's inception in the early 2000s, since when Steve has won just about every accolade going, including a second Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy and the title of Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year. Steve has also bought a vineyard he’s loved for years, and acquired a winery and cellar door in the heart of McLaren Vale, from where S.C. Pannell continues its quest for great “wines that are grown, not made” – wines that are delicious, that taste of where they're from and that are a natural partner for the food and lifestyle of their home.

About

Stephen Pannell has twice won Australia’s most prestigious wine award, the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy – most recently in 2014 for his 2013 Adelaide Hills Syrah – and his reputation is further hinted at by his being named one of the 50 most influential contributors to the world of wine by Decanter Magazine.
He earned his stripes working with some Australia’s iconic wineries including Wirra Wirra, Hardy’s Tintara and BRL Hardy, where he was Chief Red Winemaker from 1999 to 2003. He has worked numerous overseas vintages at such places as Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Burgundy, Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux and G.D. Vajra in Barolo.
In 2014, Steve won his second Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy and further cemented his relationship with the great grapegrowing region that is South Australia by setting up a cellar door in the heart of McLaren Vale. His local legend status has been confirmed again and again, winning the Bushing Trophy for best red wine of show in McLaren Vale no less than four times: 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2018.