12/11/2011 - BaileyWineCellar wrote: 94 points

Bodegas y Vinedos Tardencuba Crianza Toro 2006

By Wine & Spirits
94 Tardencuba $29
Tardencuba 2006 Toro Crianza
Enol­ogist Juan Ramon, whose family owns Tardencuba, works with 60-year-old vines to achieve a wine of tremendous tension and minerality. It's austere in its fruit expression, almost mute in aroma, firm and severe in structure. With air, it shows light flavors of red plums together with an earthy side, everything framed in austerity—as if designed for an attentive Praetorian Guard. Cellar for at least three years to reveal more of its interior dimensions. (06/11) The Artisan Collection, NY

By Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate
2006 Bodegas Tardencuba Crianza
A Tempranillo Dry Red Table wine from Toro, Castilla Leon, Spain
Review by Jay Miller
Wine Advocate # 181 (May 2009)
Rating: 90
Drink 2011 - 2018
Both Tardencuba wines are 100% Tinta de Toro. The 2006 Tardencuba Crianza spent 15 months in French and American oak. Purple-colored, it reveals an enticing perfume of cedar, spice box, tobacco, incense, and blackberry. Layered, plush, and spicy, it has excellent depth and concentration, 2-3 years of aging potential and a lengthy, pure finish. Drink it from 2011 to 2018. Importer: The Artisan Collection, New York, NY; Tel: (212) 608-0722

By Stephen Tanzer
2006 Bodegas y Vinedos Tardencuba Crianza Toro
Winery: Bodegas y Vinedos Tardencuba
Style: Red Wine
Varietal: other red varietal
Region: Toro
By Josh Raynolds
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Sep/Oct 09
Inky ruby. Sexy aromas of blackberry, cherry-vanilla, oak spice and licorice. Broad, palate-staining dark berry flavors are sweetened by vanillin oak and gain energy with air. The oak notes fade away on the finish, which is dominated by supple dark berry preserves and candied flowers. This should be better with a few years to soften the wood influence, as the fruit seems up to it. (The Artisan Collection, New York, NY) 90 points

By International Wine Review
Tardencuba 2006 Crianza
Rating: 90
Producer: Tardencuba
Region: Toro
Report: Spanish Selections 2008-9-Part 2
100% Tinta de Toro from 40 year old vines and aged 12 months in American and French oak. Opaque ruby color with enticing aromas of blackberry, cassis, and toasted oak. A soft, lush attack leads to a rich and flavorful, silky palate of highly concentrated black fruit with just the right level of astringency. Beautiful, and highly recommended!

By qualitywinesofspain.com
Tardencuba Crianza 2006 Toro
STYLE: Full Bodied Toro Red
VARIETALS: Tinta de Toro 100% +40 year old vines. 2200 kg/Ha
AGING: 12 months in American and French Oak casks.
8,000 bottles made

Ramon Ramos.
Toro.
The small Estate has 15-Has in small plots around Venialbo, in the South West of Zamora. Juan Ramon Ramos is the second generation of winemakers in the family. Juan Ramon works the vineyard with an obsessive attention to detail with the belief that the wine is mostly made in the vine.
For their top wines Tardencuba uses only ungrafted centennial vines. The soil is rocky, with numerous boulders. There are an average of 12 feet of soil until the vine's roots can extend and reach the bedrock. This dry and barren soil is immune to attack by phylloxera and to this day all the old vines have their original rootstock (ungrafted). Yields are low, an average of only 2-3 lbs per plant. The vineyards are not irrigated.
The grapes are picked by hand at dawn in small 40 lbs cases. Fermentation takes place in small concrete tanks, plot by plot, to preserve its individuality. Only native yeasts are used. and fermentation is spontaneous. The wines are bottled without fining or filtration, direct into the bottle from the casks.