Abacela Vineyards & Winery

Prior to my visit to Abacela Vineyards & Winery, I needed to beef up my knowledge of tempranillo. Here’s what Wikipedia.com had to say: “Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its native Spain. It is the main grape used in Rioja, and is often referred to as Spain’s ‘noble grape.’”

Proprietors Earl and Hilda Jones fell in love with tempranillo in the early 1990s, discovering that it matched wonderfully with their favorite fingerfood, tapas. Consequently, they set about finding the perfect spot to grow this grape, examining reams of weather data rather than focusing on the soil. After all, this grape thrives in temperate climates: warm days followed by cool nights with a fair amount of precipitation. Their unusual analysis landed them outside of Roseburg in southern Oregon at a vineyard with the unsteady name of Fault Line Vineyards. Not surprisingly, the Joneses’ vineyard is at the same latitude as Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. The sensitive tempranillo grapes love it. The Joneses called their winery Abacela, borrowing the Spanish word meaning “to plant a young vine.”

In 2001 at the prestigious San Francisco International Wine Competition, Abacela was awarded a double gold for its 1998 tempranillo. The fact that it bested 19 Spanish tempranillo entries put Abacela Vineyards & Winery on the proverbial map.

Abacela’s flagship wine may be tempranillo, but visitors can still sample a number of other wines at this spectacular winery, which features a Mediterranean-style tasting room and winery. In addition to a variety of traditional wines (e.g., merlot, petit verdot, and syrah), visitors can try Abacela’s albariño and dare each other not to think about seafood when they are tasting this delightfully crisp white wine. Abacela Vineyards & Winery also produces port-style wines from Portuguese grapes such as tinta cão. All this is under the direction of 30-something Andrew Wenzl, who happens to be one of the nicest winemakers you will ever meet.

I took home a bottle of Tempranillo Umpqua Cuvée and paired it with a tapas-like dish of prawn and bacon brochettes. I realized then what Earl and Hilda Jones understood many years ago — that tempranillo goes great with the good things in life. Down the road, if I decide to open a tapas bar, I’ll establish a direct pipeline to Abacela Vineyards & Winery. I think I would call the establishment Tapas Tempranillo, in honor of Earl and Hilda.