Telmo Rodriguez Dehesa Gago Toro 2023

Region: Toro, Spain

Grape Variety: 100% Tinto de Toro (the local clone of Tempranillo)

Adjacent to the Rueda region is Toro, which as the name implies was famous decades ago for training bulls to fight. Today the region is home to a lot of old vine Tempranillo, producing powerful examples similar to Ribera del Duero. The big difference between Toro and Ribera del Duero is freshness, as I often find examples from this area to be blocky on the palate. When I tasted a previous vintage of this wine with Telmo in September 2023, I was stunned how vivid it is by comparison. The new vintage, from the dynamite 2023 harvest, picks up right where Telmo left off with the 2022.

Rodriguez produces this wine from vines 50-100 years old that grow in three villages of the Toro region, all on sandy soils. This wine is fermented in concrete and stainless steel, then aged in concrete. This is the purest expression of Tempranillo, locally known as Tinto de Toro, showing black raspberry, black licorice and a faint note of celery seed. On the palate it is relatively firm, with good concentration and tannins that wrap this wine up near the finish. Drink 2025-2030.