Ysios Seleccion Tempranillo 2018

Written By Campbell Mattinson

Ysios Seleccion Tempranillo 2018.

At six years of age this Spanish tempranillo from the Rioja wine region is so meaty, dry and substantial that it really does need a stint in the decanter. This baby needs some air. It tastes essentially of raspberry, resin and marshmallow, earth and leather, roasted nuts and just plain toast, though there’s also a salted/earthen/herbal character whispering about the edges, which here we will call complexity. It’s not a boring wine. It’s also not soft and easy-going; there’s a lot of mouth-puckering tannin, which gives the finish a real bite. It feels serious, and it means business, the latter impression aided by the warmth of the wine’s 15% alcohol. Personally I’m not a great fan of the reds of Rioja but I’d argue that this particular release has a fair bit going for it, so long as you enjoy red wine that’s gutsy and dry.

AU $55, 15% alcohol, cork sealed.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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