No wine snobs here, just enthusiastic drinkers of all wines
Another grape and region with a reputation for strong and sometimes rough red wines. Made this time from Tinta de Toro, a version of the Tempranillo grape. However the climate in the atoro region produces grapes very high in tannins, acidity and alcohol so once again the quality of the wine is down to the … Continue reading Triton
The last wine at the Bodegas Valbusenda wine tasting at vinopremier.com. Made from 100% Tinto de Toro (a Tempranillo clone), this wine goes through its malolactic fermentation in French oak and then is further aged for 8 months in smaller French oak barrels. It has a medium intensity dark purple/ruby colour with bits floating on the edge. … Continue reading Valbusenda Klein 2015
The second wine at the Bodegas Valbusenda wine tasting at vinopremier.com. This time their intro level Rose. Valbusenda has two ranges of wine: the Abios entry level young wine and the Valbusenda select wines. This wine is made from 100% Tinto de Toro. It is a very pale rose pink Going slightly to salmon. It … Continue reading Abios Rose 2018
When summer comes we switch to white wine and in Spain that usually means a bottle of Verdejo. These eminently drinkable whites usually come from the Rueda region, but the other week I went to. Wine tasting at vinopremier.com for the Bodegas Valbusenda where we tried a Verdejo from Toro. It was a very pale … Continue reading Abios Verdejo 2018
This is the Fariña premium wine. According to their website it is a limited production, terroir-driven wine made from 100% Tinta de Toro from pre-phyloxera, hand-picked, bush vines up to 140 years old and was voted one of the top 3 best wines in Spain under 30EUR . It undergoes maceration for up to 25 … Continue reading Fariña Colegiata Campus 2014
Another wine from the Bodegas Fariña stable tried at the vinopremier.com wine tasting. This time the bodega has used the Vino De Lagrima o Flor method to balance the tannin and alcohol levels of the 100% Tinta de Toro red wine. In English this is known as Free Run wine. Basically when you stick a … Continue reading Fariña Gran Colegiata Lagrima 2016
The first wine at the vinopremier.com wine tasting with Bodegas Fariña hosting. As we mentioned in the previous post about the bodega (click here) they were instrumental during the 1970s of shifting D.O. Toro away from its traditional heavy, high tannin and alcohol reds to more balanced version designed for the modern palette. One of … Continue reading Fariña Primero 2018
Both Bodegas Fariña and the town where it is based, Casasecas de las Chanas, have a long history with wine production in the region. The town has about 350 residents most of whom are involved in the wine industry in some way. Bodegas Fariña was founded in 1942 and remains a family run winery. The … Continue reading Bodegas Fariña, D.O. Toro
This wine was a gift from a friend who attends some of my wine tastings. Bodega Matsu produce a range of four red wines made from 100% Tinto de Toro: A young wine, a Crianza and two Reservas. The bottle labels all have the image of a man on them. A young man for the … Continue reading Matsu El Recio Crianza 2015
The final D.O. toro red wine from Finca Sobreño at the vinopremier.com wine tasting. It is another Reserva, but if I'm reading the notes correctly this wine was fermented in young French oak as well as being matured for 18 months in the same barrels and then at least a further 12 months in the … Continue reading Finca Sobreño Ildefonso 2014
The Honest Wine Drinker 