Rather better than the last time around a couple of years back - this has softened up and opened up somewhat to make for a pretty decent drink. Blind and decanted, we all guessed Pinot Noir, but could not place where on earth it came from. The nose showed some earthy, barnyardy funk followed by sweet cherry notes and bits of spice and bramble - pretty nice, could almost have been Burgundian, save for some minty green hints at the very edges of the bouquet. I thought the palate was anything but Burgundian though. It had qutie a bit of sweet, sappy fruit with cherries and sweet blackberries showing a little bit of heat. That apart, the wine was decently balanced, albeit with some green limey acidity, and well-structured with firm, but certainly plusher tannins than I noted from the last bottle. All in all, still closer in expression to the new world than to France. There was a good bit of lime-stoney minerality on the midpalate as well smoke, spice, and some bitter bramble at the finish. I thought the bitterness was a little distracting, but taken all together, this was actually pretty decent. Give it 3-4 years more, and it should be slightly improved again.

Pretty nice - this unusual blend of Alsace field grapes, including Riesling and Pinot Gris, was a real wine of character. I was especially taken by the nose with its sweet notes of apricots and peach and slightly oxidative brown apple aromas, along with spice and earth and mineral, and then sweeter scents of honeysuckle flowers and beeswax. Rather rich and thick smelling, but very nice. The palate took off from where the nose ended, with a rich, almost oily textured flow of apple and pineapple flavours and then sweeter stone fruited notes on the midpalate, all seasoned with bursts of chalky mineral and spice. Deiss really seemed to have pushed the ripeness on this one; there was a nice depth and power to it, which allowed it to go well with a richly flavoured dish of squid fried with salted egg-yolks. However, while the finish was a little more lemony and citrussy amidst long licks of mineral and spice, I thought the wine lacked a bit of acidity in the end - a touch of lift would have made it a lot more enjoyable. Altogether, it was a wine of chacracter and complexity, but just lacked some cut and precision. Pretty good though, and drinking rather nicely now.

Not my usual style of Tempranillo - I liked my classic, light-footed Riojas - but this was actually a wine of real quality. The nose brought to mind a far richer, warmer varietal - maybe a Priorat Garnacha, with rich, ripe aromas of blackberries, black cherries and plums alongside some bramble and earth notes, and more typical whiffs of cigarette smoke and hot slate. The palate took off where the nose ended, with thick, rich black fruit - cassis, plums and ripe berries - along with more smoke and cigarette, and salty, roasted meat twang on the midpalate. Very nice actually, especially given how the wine, with all its power and weight, was also wrapped in supple tannins and juicy, well-integrated acidity, all adding up to give it a nicely structure and pretty balanced fell. Good finish too, with blackberries and savoury sour plums pulling away with a juicy nite. This is one of the few wines from Toro that I have really enjoyed. It is still young though, and still needs a good amount of time yet. With all its fruit and the nice structure it demonstrated, I would happily leave it aside for another 6-8 years.