Terroir-istes International - Spain, Castilla y Leon, Toro

A focus on the wines of Toro

• 2016 Bodegas y Viñedos San Roman Toro Prima 89 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): A bright mid-purple colour with vibrant aromas of fresh berries, rhubarb, red flowers, red cherry, and ripe plum skins.
  Fresh and intense on entry with lovely brightness and clarity, giving precision and approachability. Some red apple, prune, pancetta, vanilla and blackberry sit on svelte present tannins akin to a Dolcetto, maintaining a crisp, racy acidity throughout. Complex, deep, long with a gently spiced finish and a sweet yet grainy exit.
  2016 was a cooler season; 90 Tinta de Toro 10 others including Garnacha. Ferment SS and matured for 12 months in French and American oak barrels

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• 2007 Bodegas y Viñedos San Roman Toro Viña San Román 92 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): It is a deep ruby to purple colour, with a lovely liquorice, blackcurrant, and cocoa aroma, cinnamon spices, and savoury edges.
  A soft, sweet entry with tobacco notes, rolled cigars, and mincemeat. There's also a delightful coconut undertone with a hint of vanilla and wet soil. The wine is accommodating, with medium acidity and intensity and firm yet sweet tannins. Toasty notes accompany flavours of black fruits, currants, and prune. Oak adds an appeal to this bigger, bolder wine. Drinking well, this has good length and closes with that plummy, rum, and raisin quality, reminiscent of Christmas cake.
  100 Tinta de Toro aged for 25 months in French oak.

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• 2012 Bodega Numanthia Toro Numanthia 90 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): Deep black ruby with a tint of purple, the nose is lifted with complex aromas of tobacco, joss stick, and vanilla, accompanied by hints of blackcurrant and blue flowers. As the wine opens, it reveals a tapenade and a savoury liquorice character. a lot is going on here, all at a high intensity. The palate is big and strapping, with a foursquare texture to tannins. It offers a broad spectrum of flavours, including cooked fruit, prune, and damson, alongside some lightly floral, garrigue notes with tapenade. Someone cited a cheap strawberry yoghurt with a lactic quality. Full-bodied, firm and drying, there is a punchy alcohol presence, likened to a hot habanero pepper and a perky acidity. The wine is powerful, "bodybuilding stuff," with a pomace note that creeps in, yet it has a surprising freshness to the fruit on the finish. A note to discuss was that a leesy character, not just from the tannins but also from polysaccharides, contributed to a broad finish - this sucrosité quality gave the impression of sun-exposed fruit but led to a juxtaposition of a dry mid-palate yet with fruit sweetness towards the finish.

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• 2005 Bodega Numanthia Toro Numanthia 89 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): With deep garnet colour, the bouquet delivers intense black fruits with exotic spice, fennel seeds, liquorice, sour cherries and a touch of iron filings. Full-bodied and robust, the structure is a little blocky and foursquare, with big tannins, yet a certain sweetness and extract balance them. Brooding, intense flavours marked by deep tobacco, cedar, earth, and oak spices (almost a touch of char) lead to a hot glycerol note and a hint of pomace, reminiscent of cayenne pepper. The finish is lengthy and hot with some dried apricot. The wine did evolve nicely in glass.

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• 2011 Teso La Monja Toro Victorino 94 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): Deep black-red with purple edges. The aroma is rich and inky, violet almost with ripe black fruit, pencil shavings, graphite, and a hint of liquorice. A lot is going on!
  The entry reveals bright acidity, is full-bodied, and is reasonably robust with a depth of flavour, breadth and incredible intensity. Sweet-edged tannins wrap around blackcurrant, liquorice, minerals and some coffee grinds. Despite its power, it maintains a freshness and elegance. Really well structured, this promises further development, finishing long with a grapefruit perfume and a slightly port-like character. Despite its power, it is not over-extracted. Excellent!

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• 2008 Teso La Monja Toro Victorino 91 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): Deep black-red with purple edges. There is a similar inky quality to the nose and that edge of violets before tobacco, expresso foam, exotic spice, blackcurrant, prune, and plum join in. There is a sense of American oak use here, and there is a slight floral lift that is interesting. As it opened, it yielded those graphite and lead pencil notes of 2011. Powerful, punchy, and deep, the wine has an intense flavour profile that enters sweet with a glycerol touch. More savoury to the mid-palate, the tannins are big, sinewy, and chewy, augmented by sweet American oak. Flavors of black fruit, prune, blueberry cheesecake, oak char, and cacao dominate. The texture is luscious and juicy asnd the wine finishes long with hints of rosemary and exotic spices, but it does feel a bit dried out and alcoholic. My take out is that the wine has a judicious amount of oak that integrates well with the fruit, though the alcohol is quite noticeable. There is a purity here amazing length and that rich concentration. My niggle was whether the alcohol slightly compromises the overall balance. Some felt there was a char, and the fruit was that little riper than the 2011, thus lacking the lift.

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• 2012 Bodegas Pintia Toro Pintia 92 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): Deep ruby colour with attractive vanillan, tobacco, orange peel, blackberries (and touch of raspberry) and blackcurrant.
  Intense and on the palate, similar to a sweet entry and palate-staining fruit complemented by oak spices, there is a lovely gait and feel with focus. The wine is generous and punchy in a modern, full-bodied style with dry, gravelly tannins, with plenty of red and black fruit mixed with cayenne pepper, charry oak, and intense finish.
  Older vineyards of 40-60 yrs old. It matured 75% French and the rest American oak.

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• 2007 Bodegas Pintia Toro Pintia 92 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

  (Tasted Blind): (Tasted Blind): Deep black-red ruby colour with oak spices, vanilla, tobacco, and mince pie aromas with a touch of fragrant blue flowers. The palate is full-bodied, intense, smooth and focussed with a broad mid-palate packed with damson, prune, dried blackcurrant and liquorice. Whilst being powerful, it manages to retain freshness. Firmly structured tannins, quite dense with a long finish closing with dried cherry and a touch of oak - some ellagic oak tannins.

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