2009 Smallfry Tempranillo Ganarcha Joven

You have to give credit to James Halliday for “discovering” some fine small producers in his annual Wine guide. Smallfry are another little winery that, like Flaxman wines, received 5 Stars in the latest edition. Noted as a “Dark Horse” for its achievements in the last 12 months as well.

But to be honest, it was Darren Davis from The Purple Palate in Brisbane who put me on to this wine yesterday. And it’s a corker. I was going to take the day off from tasting notes today, but this wine got me quite excited… So on with the show!

Winemaker Wayne Ahrens’ year long stint in Spain was apparently the catalyst for producing this wine. It certainly tastes joven, but that belies its complexity. Wonderfully fragrant with black and red jubey fruit, raspberry coulis, tree bark, plum tomatoes and sour cherries. All of this plays out on the palate which is excellently structured with juicy but not overdone acidity and sandy grippy tannins of some quality. It’s very spicy too. Mostly cinnamon and pepper.

The balance of savoury, sour & sweet flavours works a treat. You can easily enjoy this by itself but it is enhanced by appropriate food. A wine that has me really excited and eager to sample more of the Smallfry portfolio.

Winery Website- https://www.smallfrywines.com.au/