La Linea
La Linea hatched in Peter Leske's head in late 2006, soon after leaving Nepenthe. He had been Winemaker at the super-premium Adelaide Hills company since its foundation just over a decade earlier. Contemplating his next step, he found the aroma and taste of a dry, fine rosé made from Tempranillo grapes turning over and over in his mind. Imagining aromas and flavours that don't exist can be frustrating - but it's the winemaking equivalent of a melody forming in a songwriter's brain; a melody which won't go away until it's played.
Leske needed to play.
While interest in (and plantings of) Tempranillo are growing rapidly in Australia, it's still regarded here as a 'minor' or 'emerging' or 'non-mainstream' variety (depending on your preference for jargon!). Not so in its home in Spain. The Spanish grow it widely, and much like we do with Shiraz in this country, make it into a diverse range of styles, from crisp rosés produced for summer drinking, to robust, long-living reds.
Tasting Notes
Grapes/Blend: 100% Tempranillo
Maturation
Approximately nine months in French oak barrels for evolution and maturation of the relatively firm tannins, the youngest of them is three years old, and the oldest, a decade.
Aroma
The nose is a perfumed mix of raspberry and cherry, as well as dried herbs: sage, sorrel and marjoram.
Palate
Gently tannic but lively, with a mouthful of those red fruits, it’s a generously fleshy but savoury wine of length.
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