Tempranillo takes on the flavor of the barrel. Varietal examples of Tempranillo usually exhibit flavors of plum and strawberries. Tempranillo is an early ripening variety that tends to thrive in chalky vineyard soils such as those of the Ribera del Duero region of Spain. In Portugal, where the grape is known as Tinto Roriz and Aragonez, it is blended with others to produce Port wine. For some time, Tempranillo was thought to be related to the Pinot noir grape. According to legend, Cistercian monks left Pinot noir cuttings at monasteries along their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. However, ampelographic studies have
Durif not be consigned to jug wine when he blended small portions into his reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Since 2002 Assaf Paz enologist and co-owner at Vitkin Winery is consistently producing a single-varietal Petite Sirah as a high end wine sourced from the oldest Petite Sirah vineyard in Israel. Seeing that Israeli "terroir" could grow great Petite Sirah, wineries such as Lewis Pasco the founding winemaker at Recanati followed suit with a Petite Sirah/Zinfandel blend, while others like Sea Horse, Carmel and Tishbi have made single-varietal Petite Sirah in addition to using it for blending. Petite Sirah is sometimes mistakenly spelled "Petite