Tempranillo vs Garnacha
Rioja's classic red partnership: Jancis Robinson casts Tempranillo as the framework and ageing ability, and Garnacha as the grape that adds weight.
In Rioja, the Consejo Regulador puts Tempranillo at 87.78% of the red varieties and Garnacha Tinta at 7.40%. Jancis Robinson compares the pairing to red Bordeaux: Tempranillo plays the Cabernet Sauvignon part, providing the framework and ageing ability, while the juicier, fruitier Garnacha plays the plumper Merlot role and adds weight. WSET notes that in Rioja Garnacha adds fruit and alcohol to the blend, and describes its wines as generally relatively pale, very fruity and typically high in natural alcohol, at 14% abv and above. Beyond Rioja, Tempranillo leads Ribera del Duero, where the pliego de condiciones requires red wines to contain at least 75% Tempranillo, Tinto Fino or Tinta del País, while Garnacha is a recommended red variety of DOQ Priorat and, as Grenache noir, the most-planted of the Rhône Valley's grape varieties according to Vins Rhône.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador says Tempranillo is considered native to Rioja and calls it the most characteristic variety of the DOCa and the core of its red wines. It lists Cencibel, Tinto Fino, Tinto de Toro, Tinto del País and Ull de Llebre as synonyms. In Portugal, the IVDP names Tinta Roriz (Aragonez) among the native varieties behind Douro red wines, and Jancis Robinson notes that it is known as Aragonês in the Alentejo.
WSET argues the grape should really be called Garnacha because it almost certainly originates in Spain, citing Jose Vouillamoz's genetic evidence: all three colours of the variety, and the downy-leafed Peluda, are seen in Spain but not in Sardinia, and Spanish populations show significant clonal diversity. Vins Rhône gives its origin as Spain (Aragon). WSET adds that Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha Roja and Garnacha Peluda (Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris and Lledoner Pelut in French) share the same DNA profile as Garnacha Tinta, which at 150,000 hectares accounts for 94 per cent of the variety's global plantings.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador lists Tempranillo's ripening as early, with a short cycle, and rates it highly sensitive to pests and diseases, with low resistance to drought and high temperatures. Jancis Robinson notes that rot can be a problem, especially in the tight bunches of the newer clones, and that the vine has traditionally been grown en vaso, as low bush vines, although some growers have trained it on a trellis to increase yields.
WSET notes that Garnacha's strong wood and upright growth suit it to bush vines in hot, dry, windy vineyards and that it has good resistance to drought, but that it buds early, making it prone to spring frost, and suffers from coulure, which reduces yields. It has a long growth cycle, can reach high sugar levels, and needs a long season for the seeds and skins to ripen fully. The Rioja Consejo Regulador rates it resistant to drought, acariosis and powdery mildew but sensitive to mildew and botrytis.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador lists red and black fruits such as plums or strawberries, fruits of the forest, and floral scents such as violets and wild flowers, with vanilla, cocoa or liquorice after long ageing and red fruit and strawberry candy hints in young carbonic wines. Jancis Robinson describes Tempranillo's flavour as essentially savoury rather than sweet, with hints of leather, and writes that the phrase she uses most often for it is 'fresh tobacco leaves'.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador describes great aromatic intensity of red fruits and dried plums, floral notes such as violets and spicy notes such as pepper, with young wines showing freshly ground pepper and hints of raspberry and blackberry. WSET calls red fruit flavours the most typical, and Jancis Robinson writes that if Grenache-based wines have one single characteristic, it is a sweet ripeness. In Rioja, Decanter's Amaya Cervera points to Garnacha's scented aromas, sweet fruit character and gentle texture.
Jancis Robinson writes that Tempranillo provides the framework and ageing ability of red Rioja, together with the predominant flavour, and that in Rioja and Navarra Garnacha can make much softer and jammier wine than the well structured, deeper-coloured Tempranillo. She describes the more modern, concentrated style of Ribera del Duero as characterised by an intense, deep crimson.
WSET describes Garnacha Tinta wines as generally relatively pale, with varying levels of tannin, medium acidity and typically high natural alcohol of 14% abv and above, and notes that tannin levels depend on the degree of water stress. Vins Rhône describes very fruity, round wines with weight and volume on the palate and a high alcohol potential, and Jancis Robinson notes quite tough tannins if yields are low.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador puts Tempranillo at 87.78% of red varieties and 79.84% of the total. In Ribera del Duero, the pliego de condiciones requires red wines to contain at least 75% Tempranillo, Tinto Fino or Tinta del País, and WSET puts Tinto Fino at around 95% of all plantings in the DO. Jancis Robinson notes the local, loose-bunched Tinta de Toro in Toro, and the name Cencibel in Valdepeñas, where it is the predominant red grape.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador puts Garnacha Tinta at 7.40% of red varieties and 6.37% of the total. WSET places Spain's most extensive plantings in Castilla-La Mancha, in Aragón (in denominations such as Cariñena, Campo de Borja and Calatayud), in Rioja, especially Rioja Oriental, and in Navarra, where WSET notes Garnacha covered around 90% of the vineyards several decades ago. DOQ Priorat names Grenache and Carignan as its recommended red varieties, and the Priorat pliego requires at least 60% Cariñena and/or Garnacha (negra, peluda or blanca) for village, paraje and classified-vineyard wines and 90% for gran viña clasificada.
Jancis Robinson notes Tempranillo as Tinta Roriz in port and in the table wines of the Douro Valley, as an improving variety in the red wines of Dão, and as Aragonês in the Alentejo. She also records it in the Languedoc, in Australia, in Argentina, where it was called Tempranilla, and in southern Oregon, Washington state and California.
Vins Rhône calls Grenache noir the king of the southern Rhône Valley varieties and the most-planted of its grape varieties, at 41.77% of the vineyards. WSET notes that France and Spain account for nearly 90 per cent of world plantings, that in France it is planted principally in the southern Rhône, Provence, Languedoc and Roussillon, and that in Sardinia it is called Cannonau. Jancis Robinson calls it the grape chiefly responsible for Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Priorat, and WSET points to single-variety wines from South Australia's Barossa and McLaren Vale.
The Rioja Consejo Regulador calls Tempranillo versatile enough for rosés, young red wines and red wines for ageing. Jancis Robinson notes that until the 1990s most red Rioja tasted more of oak than grapes, and that bodegas have since begun ageing for much shorter periods in French oak and exporting young, unoaked Joven wines. In Ribera del Duero, WSET notes that most claretes, the region's traditional rosé, are made from Tinto Fino alone.
WSET notes that Garnacha is often blended: with Syrah and Mourvèdre in the southern Rhône and in GSM blends in the USA and Australia, with Tempranillo in Rioja, and with Carignan in Priorat for very full-bodied, powerfully flavoured wines. It is widely used for rosé, for example in Navarra and Provence, and for sweet fortified wines such as Roussillon's vin doux naturel, since it can easily achieve 16% abv or more naturally. The Rioja Consejo Regulador adds that warmer areas produce red wines while cool areas give a balanced product ideal for rosés, and WSET notes that many Navarra producers still use the traditional saignée method for rosado.
For red Rioja, the Consejo Regulador requires a Crianza to age for at least two years, with at least one year in 225-litre oak barrels; a Reserva for at least three years, with at least one year in barrel and six months in bottle; and a Gran Reserva, from great harvests, for at least five years, two of them in barrel and two in bottle. Jancis Robinson writes that Vega Sicilia has proved that Tempranillo grown in Ribera del Duero's extreme climate can withstand up to 10 years in barrel and still age for decades in bottle.
WSET notes that Garnacha is very prone to oxidation and to loss of its already relatively light colour, so contact with oxygen must be reduced, and that while better wines are often aged in oak barrels, new oak is unusual because its flavours would mask the grape's fruitiness. WSET adds that Garnacha's Priorat blends with Carignan can be aged in bottle, and Decanter's Amaya Cervera cites a varietal Garnacha reserva made by Bodegas Valdemar between 1987 and 2000, at a time when no one appreciated the variety's ageing qualities.
Reach for Tempranillo for the savoury profile, with leather and fresh tobacco leaves, that Jancis Robinson describes, and for the Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva ageing path the Rioja Consejo Regulador sets out. Reach for Garnacha for the red fruit, pepper and high natural alcohol described by the Consejo Regulador and WSET, whether in a Navarra rosado, a Priorat blend with Carignan or a Roussillon vin doux naturel. In Rioja the two work together: Jancis Robinson sees Tempranillo providing the framework and ageing ability while Garnacha adds weight.
- Rioja plantings per the Consejo Regulador: Tempranillo 87.78% of red varieties (79.84% of the total); Garnacha Tinta 7.40% of red varieties (6.37% of the total).
- Tempranillo synonyms listed by the Rioja Consejo Regulador: Cencibel, Tinto Fino, Tinto de Toro, Tinto del País, Ull de Llebre; in Portugal the IVDP lists it as Tinta Roriz (Aragonez).
- Blend rules: Ribera del Duero reds need at least 75% Tempranillo, Tinto Fino or Tinta del País (pliego de condiciones); Priorat village, paraje and classified-vineyard wines need at least 60% Cariñena and/or Garnacha, and gran viña clasificada 90% (Priorat pliego).
- Structure markers: WSET describes Garnacha wines as relatively pale, with varying tannin, medium acidity and typically 14% abv and above; Jancis Robinson calls Tempranillo's flavour essentially savoury rather than sweet and Tempranillo deeper-coloured than Garnacha in Rioja and Navarra.
- Garnacha styles per WSET: blended and single-variety reds, rosé (Navarra, Provence) and sweet fortified wines such as Roussillon's vin doux naturel; it can easily achieve 16% abv or more naturally, so less fortification is required.
Sources and last verified
Sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/tempranillo, https://riojawine.com/en-gb/the-designation/grape-varieties/tempranillo/, https://riojawine.com/en-gb/the-designation/grape-varieties/garnacha-tinta/, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2021/september/14/understanding-grapes-spotlight-on-grenache, https://www.mapa.gob.es/dam/mapa/contenido/alimentacion/temas/calidad-agroalimentaria/2017-calidad-diferenciada/nuevo_denominaciones/pliegos-de-condiciones/pliego-condiciones-vinos/dops/ribera_del_duero_2023_07_31.pdf, https://www.doqpriorat.org/en/varietals/, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/grenache-noir-grape-variety, https://www.ivdp.pt/en/wines/douro-wines/wines/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/grenache, https://www.decanter.com/magazine/garnacha-rioja-wines-10-to-try-469899/, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2025/from-ancient-vines-to-modern-wines-in-ribera-del-duero, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/navarra-ros%C3%A9-and-the-enduring-magic-of-garnacha, https://incavi.gencat.cat/content/dam/incavi/home/normativa/plecs-de-condicions-de-les-do-catalanes/do-priorat/PC-Priorat-DOQ-nov-21-control-de-canvis.pdf, https://riojawine.com/en-gb/the-designation/classification/. Last verified 2026-09-25.
