Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Gago from Toro was fermented in foudre and raised in new French oak for 12 months. It has a delightful bouquet of toasty oak, Asian spices, lavender, espresso, licorice, and blackberry. This opulent, buxom beauty will deliver pleasure now through 2018.
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Wine Spectator
Firm tannins underlie a smooth texture in this silky red. Black cherry, smoke, tar and mineral flavors are balanced and fresh, and this shows good focus and length. Drink now through 2012. 250 cases imported.
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.