First let me include a TN from a surprise wine that was poured for our opinion at the BSS last week.

VAL VIADERO Roble 2001 13,5% Alc.

This is the Toro bottling of Bodegas Valduero, who are based in Ribera del Duero and produce a far-too-polished red under the name Valduero, usually good to drink BTG with tapas, but not convincing enough for a bottle at all. This is something different.

Brutally berried in the nose, this is as deep purpled a wine as any Numanthia in the market. Fruity in a very simple black- and rasp-berry range, with plums and ink for pleasant contamination, this kept growing in both nose and mouth. Initially it was fairly hard in the palate, with drying tannings, but evenually opened into an explosive nose and roundish mouthfeel. Still has bottle life, but right now it is the sort of savage beast one used to expect from Toro, with all the modern winemaking improvements incorporated. I think I could easily give this a 90, especially at $10.50...

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OK, this is how the blind TORO tasting went (order was truly random save for the necessary departures). From my 416/31 (Tempranillo) glass:

Rueda Verdejo José Pariente 2001
Toro Gago 2000
Toro Sobreño Selección Especial 1999
Penedés Albet i Noya Syrah 1999
Toro San Román 1999
Toro Elías Mora 2001
Toro Numanthia 1998
Toro Gran Colegiata Campus Gotorum 1998
Icoden-Daute-Isora Tasana Malvasía Dulce 2000
Jerez Cardenal Cisneros PX

We had arranged the gun to go off at 19:00 so I could drop in by 18:00 and do some cheese-slicing first. Ever heard Spain is different? I arrived by 18:07 due to traffic and interrupted "something" Period. Then nobody turned up until 20:30 but at least they appeared almost all together. By then almost ALL cheese had been sliced (Garrotxa, Cheddar, San Simón, Majorero, Murcia al Vino, and a very old Manchego called Boffard).
Every bottle had been double-decanted in the morning and restoppered. The blinding was thorough so I decided to run the risk of having the Numanthia as the first bottle and just re-decanted the first couple of reds at random. As you see it could have been worse. Attendants not being serious enough to take notes (or allow my doing so), I uncovered each bottle just before it was finished:


Rueda JOSÉ PARIENTE Verdejo 2001 12,5% Alc. $6

This is possibly my favorite verdejo, along with CONDESA EYLO. It's produced by two ladies named Victoria and Vicky, hence the name of the company "Dos Victorias." They produce this white in Rueda and the Toro bottlings of Elías Mora, so I thought the coupling was more than justified (considering that Toro does not have any whites of significance). José Pariente and Elías Mora are the names of their grandfathers and previous owners of the vineyards, I think, so it all fits neatly into a double-family project.
Excellent fruit in the nose, with tropical aromas now sort of overwhelming: Guava very specifically right now. This will be better with some bottle age, when the herbaceousness of verdejo emerges more clearly to add a little typicity. In the palate it is not short of acidity, hence my bet for peak around summer, but right now it was better suited as an aperitif (which is what I intended anyway) than a dinner-table companion. Overall a very pleasant if still uncomplicated white. 88


Toro GAGO 2000 13% Alc. RP89

First red of the night, a model of what an innocent hand should come up with as beginner. This would have been chosen as the ideal starter and reference wine for a Toro tasting anyway, so we were really lucky. Another excellent Telmo Rodríguez red, by the way.
Perfect balance, perfect drinking moment, textbook plummy Toro fruit, and I could swear this has seen some oak, either second use or huge tanks, no matter what RP's guide says. The bit of bottle age has integrated its components beautifully. Everybody liked it. Medium to full bodied but smooth in the palate, fleshy but not aggressive in any way. And a cheapie at just $11 (hand-imported this Xmas from Spain, so no repeats). Yes, 88-89.

SOBREÑO SELECCIÓN ESPECIAL 1999 12m in American oak 14,5% Alc. $26

This came as proof that you can't have it all. Needed lots more air than it got, even though I did more than just double-decant it in the morning. Awful second position in the lineup prevented it from showing its best. I insisted in waiting for this one, as I just had it in September and knew that it would come to better focus with a little more air. Excellent mineral notes and soil-infused complexity around a core of plummy fruit, licorice, ink, and spicy notes. Full-bodied and ample in the mouth, reaching every tastebud in the palate; a joy to drink, though the last drops performed best... 90-91+


Penedés ALBET I NOYA Syrah 1999 13,5 Alc.

The ringer. Funny, I had totally forgotten about this. When I unveiled this I was genuinely surprised too, and relieved it was none of the Toros. Odd, funky notes of rotten egg in the nose eventually receded, but I didn't like what was behind anyway. Totally lacking focus, jammy fruit is hidden behind "confusion." NR (and a pity, because previous vintages of this wine have been consistently very-good-to-excellent)


SAN ROMÁN 1999 22m in French & American oak 14% Alc. $20, WS93

Ouch! Musty odor made us fear the worst, but not quite; amazing potential in the nose but needed lots of time before it really decided to shine. Bottle not totally wholesome, I'm afraid, as I just had this a month ago and it did need 2 hours but never showed this funkiness. Muscular and still somewhat the bully of the tasting, this has an awesome future. Everybody was impressed and lamented the initial impression. Roasted coffee, ink, and fine oak notes add complexity to the whole range of small berry fruits present in this wine. Tannin is clearly present in the (mouthful) palate, but has loads of fruit to balance it. Want to see this in November!! Indeed the best vintage for this wine yet. 92+


ELÍAS MORA 2001 5m in oak 14% Alc. $7.

The absolute cheapie of the night, and of course all too easy to recognize, being by far the youngest and with less bottle age than the Gago. Fruit forward, with Santi's "plum crystal drop" definition fitting neatly. Oak aromas were very subtle anyway, with dominant fruit in the nose. Very pleasant integration in the mouth too, though shorter finish than the rest. At $7. it is indeed a fine bargain for the third consecutive year. The two Victorias have now just released a top end bottling under the same name Elías Mora, but I think the debut vintage is 2000. Rating 87+


NUMANTHIA 1998 18m French oak 14,5% Alc. $ 26 last year, impossiblte to find anymore WS89 RP95

"This is the Numanthia." Period. The nose coincided exactly with the aromatic profile of the 2000 tasted just a couple of weeks ago, though less fresh. Of course here we had a glassful of the decanted 98, so there was as much enjoyment as there had been anticipation. Gorgeous nose full of plummy and black- and rasp-berry fruit, with inky notes all over. The riberesque touch showed here as well, you bet I'm after another bottle of the 2000. Only marginally less fruitdriven, with excellent crianza character, superb concentration, and ...well, what a mouthful. In comparison with the 2000 all I have to say is if I had a bottle of the 2000 here and now I'd open it within a month anyway. 92-93 (which means the 2000 would probably have fared so much better in ideal conditions... )


Bs. Fariña GRAN COLEGIATA CAMPUS GOTORUM 1998 13,5% Alc. $17

This was the last bottle, so little suspense. From Eno's TN on the 99 I had learned to expect the typical concentrated but also overoaked Toro. Well, this was a very pleasant surprise. Either it was the extra 12m in bottle or we were just customized to Toro after five bottles, but everyone seemed to like this one very much more than I had imagined beforehand. In size it was only second to the Numanthia, though it certainly lacked the complexity of the Sobreño. It resembled an oversized version of the Gago, yes, that's more like it. Lower than average in acidity, but so plush and fleshy. Good fruit but even better integration. It was a curious coincidence that the two 98s appeared as last bottles. The group's palate thanked the bottle age, and there were several inquiries about price and availability. It's not that cheap. Give me the San Román at that price. But sure it is nice to see the traditional Toro producers catching up with the new flashy investors coming from outside the region. 88+


Malvasía Dulce TASANA (from the Tenerife D.O. Icoden-Daute-Isora) 15% Alc.

Brought by Santi. First sticky of the night, and one I had a great interest in. A touch too cold at first. Excellent nose of tropical fruit, honey, and quince. Fear of dilution in the palate was confirmed by a somewhat watery mouthfeel and a shorter-than-desirable finish. Nice acidity did a good job to refresh the chocolate (Michel Cluizel's Gran Cru Hacienda Concepción, how I love this stuff!).


Sánchez Romate CARDENAL CISNEROS PX 15+ years old 18% Alc. $ 21 if you can find it

Well, this is a favorite of ours since we tried it as our first "serious" PX some three or four years ago. For one under 20 years of age, this is the best not-so-old PX I know. Served blind versus a NOÉ (30+) for example, I might be able to guess based on the sweetness (Sánchez Romate is not exactly a diabetic-friendly house, even in this decadent context), but there's little that this has to envy in even much older bottlings. Mouthcoating, viscous, silent-splashing, intensely sweet, intense and concentrated aromas of raisins, figs and dates...uh... amazing companion for the chocolate and the buttery shortbread rounds by Walkers (another low-cal bite) ...

By the time I jumped inside a cab it was 3:45 am...