Tempos Vega Sicilia Pintia 2008
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After the first four grape harvests from 1997 to 2000, the winery realized that they would have to preserve, extract and protect everything that would convert Pintia into an elegant wine within the austerity of the region - the delicate tannins embraced by the aroma of fresh fruit whilst avoiding overripeness and licorice aromas. This is Pintia's defining philosophy.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Pintia has a fragrant bouquet with scents of dark plum, mulberry and fresh cherry, the new oak neatly folded into the fruit profile. The palate is medium-bodied with a fleshy, silky smooth entry. The tannins here are very fine with dark cherries, a touch of sloe and spices that become more pronounced toward the focused finish. This is perhaps the most feminine 2008 so far – less sexy than the 2007 but still seductive.
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Wine & Spirits
This is the twelfth vintage of Vega Sicilia’s Toro project. Its voluptuous ripe fig and blackberry flavor carries a clear sense of the region. While it’s ample in weight, the tannin structure is sufficient enough to carry the depth of flavor. A wine to age another five years. Europvin USA, Van Nuys, CA
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Vega Sicilia set themselves an ambitious challenge when they started purchasing vineyards in Toro in 1997. This region was well-known for wines of great character, but little finesse. For 4 years they perfected their style in secret, before finally releasing the 2001 under the name Pintia.
Toro is located further along the Duero river from Vega Sicilia, in hotter, wilder territory as one approaches the Portuguese border (after which, the Duero becomes the famous Douro of Port fame). Altitudes are slightly lower than in the Ribera del Duero, making for very hot days, but 500-700m altitudes stil mean big day-night temperature changes, so acidity and fruit are preserved.
The grape here is 100% Tinta de Toro, a thick-skinned local clone of Tempranillo. The Vega team carefully vinify the wine to extract only the finest tannins and maintain aromatic purity, and age one year in the highest quality French and American oak barrels. Pintia displays the style and class (elegance, even !) of a Vega Sicilia Group wine, but with the extra spicy, forceful presence of a Toro. Early critical reaction has been ecstatic, and pricing remains eminently reasonable for a wine of this quality.
Spanish red wine is known for being bold, heady, rustic and age-worthy, Spain is truly a one-of-a-kind wine-producing nation. A great majority of the country is hot, arid and drought-ridden, and since irrigation has only been recently introduced and (controversially) accepted, viticulture has sustained—and flourished—only through a great understanding of Spain’s particular conditions. Large spacing between vines allows each enough resources to survive and as a result, the country has the most acreage under vine compared to any other country, but is usually third in production.
Of the Spanish red wines, the most planted and respected grape variety is Tempranillo, the star of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. Priorat specializes in bold red blends, Jumilla has gained global recognition for its single varietal Monastrell and Utiel-Requena has garnered recent attention for its reds made of Bobal.