Get out of a rut with Euro grapes

Are you in a red wine rut? Statistics suggest that you probably are, considering that the overwhelming choice of consumers centers on just a few grape varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot, with syrah and pinot noir coming on strong. After that, it's a smattering of all sorts of red varieties.

This week's recommendation should rock your red wine world -- an exceptional red made from a variety that, although widely grown in Europe, is not yet esteemed on our shores, let alone much grown here in America. One taste and you'll wonder why, I assure you.

Abacela Tempranillo Estate 2004: One of the most exciting things for those who follow wine closely is the appearance of what might be called a new "wine life form."

What this means is not merely that someone planted a new grape variety in a zone previously uninhabited by that grape, but that the result exceeds anyone's reasonable expectations. What's more, and most important, is that it emerges not just as a mere copy, but something original -- in effect, a new species.

That is the triumph of Abacela Vineyards and Winery in Roseburg with the Spanish grape called tempranillo. Abacela is not the only American winery trying its hand with tempranillo, although it may well be the first producer in Oregon to do so at a commercial level.

A promotional organization called TAPAS -- Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society -- lists 22 charter wineries producing tempranillo, including Abacela as well as three other Oregon wineries: Red Lily Vineyards, Reustle Vineyard and Winery and Valley View Winery, all based in Southern Oregon.

Based on the stellar quality of Abacela's "Estate" tempranillo, various parts of Southern Oregon have more than mere promise for this slightly spicy red grape. Famed in Spain as the informing grape in such districts as Rioja and Ribera del Duero, tempranillo is capable of creating a long-lived wine of uncommon finesse and dimension.

Not every tempranillo wine, in or out of Spain, is either long-lived or many-layered. It can be made as a simple, quaffing, fruit-rich red. Or a producer can swing for the bleachers, which Abacela is doing.

Abacela "Estate" Tempranillo 2004 is no simple red wine. Far from it. This is terrific tempranillo: dense yet impressively refined. The barrel treatment affords the polish and smoothness achieved by small French oak barrels (few of them new, which helps reduce an invasive vanilla scent).

This is superb tempranillo, not just by embryonic American standards but by the standards of Spain itself. Rich, dense, redolent of plums, blackberries and spice, this is an ideal red for roast beef, a well-aged steak or a great plate of scalloped potatoes. $29.95. (Distributor is Galaxy Wine Co.)

Matt Kramer: 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 Matt Kramer is a Portland wine critic and author.