Tempranillo/Merlot, Ars In Vitro, Tandem 2022
Tim Atkin MW 92; Tim Atkin 92
Mix any six bottles and you pay the Any 6+ price at checkout — no code needed.
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Why this wine
The Yerri Valley is cool and high enough that Tempranillo holds its acidity, and Tandem keep this cuvee out of oak entirely so the fruit leads. Two years in concrete give it shape and length without wood. A ready-to-drink Navarra red with more detail than most.
At a glance
- Grape
- Tempranillo 95%, Merlot 5%
- Region
- Navarra, Spain
- Alcohol
- 14.00%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Poultry & Pork, Cheese
How it tastes
Inviting red plum and black fruits with mineral notes and a hint of violet and spicy liquorice. Unoaked and fresh, medium-bodied, with brisk acidity and soft, even tannins running to a long finish. Tempranillo 95%, Merlot 5%.
The producer
Tandem is the work of José Maria Fraile and Alicia Eyaralar, two of the leading figures of the Navarra wine scene; in 2019 the estate was certified vegan and accredited with the European Vegetarian Union's 'V label'. The vines sit in the heart of the Yerri Valley, recognised as the region's best area for quality wine, dry-farmed and Guyot-trained on clay loam soils and green-harvested for lower yields, with treatments limited to sulphur and copper rather than synthetic chemicals and picking carried out in the coolest hours of the day. The grapes were cold-macerated before fermenting in stainless steel at 25°C with gentle cap immersion over ten days, then racked by gravity to concrete vats on the lower floor of the winery for malolactic conversion and natural clarification by decantation; the wine aged a minimum of 24 months in concrete before being bottled by gravity with minimal filtration.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16-18°C. It works with lamb chops, chorizo and butter beans, roast chicken or a hard sheep's cheese. Drinking well now and over the next three to five years; no decanting needed. Sealed with a screwcap. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.